My Shrink's Theory
by TheSameFatalFlaw
Summary: The pyschologist from 'My Bed Banter & Beyond' returns to ask J.D. about his life and relationships since their last meeting, and he also has an interesting theory on why J.D. destroys every relationship he has. JD/Elliot
1. My Shrink's Theory

**SPOILERS FOR 'MY BED BANTER & BEYOND' (SEASON 1) AND 'MY ROAD TO NOWHERE' (SEASON 6) BELOW!!!**

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This is my first [Scrubs fanfic so I hope you all enjoy it. Just a few things you should know: 1) This story takes place in season six not long after Kim loses the baby; and in this story Kim actually DOES lose the baby, she doesn't just lie about it. 2) J.D.'s thoughts are in **bold**. 3) If you haven't seen season one's 'My Bed Banter & Beyond' then you won't know anything about the research project. Basically, the hospital volunteered it's doctors and nurses for a psychologist's research project. The staff basically talked to the shrinks about their lives and their jobs as doctors.

Oh, and by the way, I own nothing to do with [Scrubs

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J.D. sat alone on the couch in the doctor's lounge with the T.V. off. His eyes were closed and his arms were folded across his chest. He wasn't asleep; just resting peacefully during his well earned break. 

**During a hectic day, it's important that you take a little time to yourself and just relax.**

J.D.'s entire body jolted as the door to the doctor's lounge burst open and nearly every other doctor in the hospital entered, conversing between themselves loudly. Someone grabbed the remote and turned the T.V. on and the volume up high.

Elliot flopped down next to him on the couch and smiled at him friendly.

"What's up, J.D.?" she asked.

"Is everybody here on a break?" he asked, looking around at the amount of doctors who had just entered.

"Yup." Elliot confirmed, turning her attention towards the T.V.

**Who the hell is taking care of the patients?!**

As if the lounge wasn't packed enough, Ted walked into the room, closely followed by Dr Kelso, and turned off the T.V. to the displeasure of the doctors watching it.

"Attention, Doctors." Ted says. "The Chief of Medicine has a announcement to make."

Dr Kelso stepped forward from behind Ted, hitting him with his shoulder in the process. Ted stumbled but managed to keep himself from falling over.

"Those of you who were here six years ago," Dr Kelso began. "will remember taking part in a psychologist research project. The Psychologist's you saw were just beginning their career at the time. Now, six years later, they are returning as successful shrinks to do a follow-up project, by talking to you about what's happened in your boring-ass-lives since then."

J.D. felt Elliot squirm next to him and then move slightly further down the couch, away from him.

**I think I know why Elliot is suddenly a little uncomfortable. See, the last time these psychologist's were at the hospital , we were going through the multi-car pileup that was our first relationship. To be honest, back then, I didn't think our friendship was going to survive.**

He glanced at Elliot, who was keeping her gaze on Kelso and blowing the bangs out of her face, and found himself smiling slightly.

**I'm glad I was wrong.**

"So," Kelso continued. "the psychologist will arrive tomorrow. This time around, I refuse to let you spend all day in that room while I pay for you to work. It will be a very short, half-hour session. Bitch about you lives and get back to work! C'mon Ted."

Ted reluctantly followed his boss out of the room and the other doctors broke into conversation instantly. Those who had just been told they would have to talk to a shrink again discussed that; those who weren't there last time and therefore will have a normal day the next day, continued enjoying their break.

"So, J.D., how you holding up after the whole Kim thing?" Elliot asked, both eager to change the subject and worried about her best friend who recently lost both his girlfriend and his unborn child.

J.D., however, wished they could have stayed with the uncomfortable silence. He let out a sigh but told her how he was feeling.

"Okay, I guess. I feel a little stupid, though; missing something that I never even saw or met."

**Whoa! Where did that come from? I've haven't even told Turk that. But come to think of it, I have a habit of telling Elliot things I would usually keep to myself. I wonder why…?**

J.D.'s thoughts were interrupted when he felt Elliot's hand in his own. He looked up to see her smiling sympathetically.

"I know it sucks right now," she told him. "but it'll get easier. You know I'm here if you ever need to talk, right?"

He nodded to show that he did, and smiled back at her. For a second or two they just kept looking at each other until they heard Elliot's pager going off.

"Gotta go!" she said, looking at the message. Before she left, she added: "Call me later if you need me!"

J.D. decided it was time to get back to work not long after that and so got up and made his way to the ICU.

**Since I broke up with Kim, and with Turk being busy with Carla and Izzie (Hey, that last part rhymed!), I felt a little lonely. So it was nice to know Elliot was there if I ever wanted to talk.**

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The next day, J.D., Elliot, Turk, Carla, Dr Cox, Dr Kelso and others received notes stating the time of their session with the shrinks. They were going to be using Kelso's office for the talks, much to his annoyance. A little after the start of J.D.'s shift, he, Elliot and Carla stood at the nurse's station. Turk came round the corner and joined them.

"Hey, Brown Bear! Where've you been?" J.D. asked his former roommate.

"I just had my follow up session." Turk answered. The other three immediately started asking questions about it. Turk explained that they basically just went over what they talked about last time and how his life had changed since then.

"So I told them how I got a beautiful baby with my beautiful baby." he said, planting a kiss on Carla's cheek.

"I'm dreading him asking me about the last talk we had." Elliot told them. "I must have come across as such a miserable person. He didn't know it was only because I was dealing with…." she trailed off and her eyes met J.D.'s. They held each other's gaze for a while before Elliot mumbled something about a patient and quickly walked away. J.D. watched her leave and felt a great rush of sadness at how his first relationship with Elliot ended. Carla and Turk sensed J.D.'s regret and quickly changed the subject.

A little after lunch, J.D. headed for Dr Kelso's office passing Kelso on the way taking out his frustrations on a dejected looking Ted.

He shook the shrinks hand as he entered and took a seat across from him. The shrink looked to have gained weight and had a little facial hair. Now that he thought about it, J.D. remembered how scared the young therapist seemed last time. He was at the very beginning of his career, just like J.D. was.

"Good to see you again, Dr Dorian. So, in our last talk, the main focus was on relationships. Now, I've been looking over the notes from that session and I realised how bitter you sounded, as though you had recently been in a relationship like the kind we talked about. Am I right?"

"Yeah." J.D. answered, his mind once again shifting to the worst break up of his life.

"Why don't you tell me about what was happening around that time?"

J.D. really didn't feel like going into great detail about it, so decided to be as vague as possible.

"The same thing that happens in all of my relationships, I have a huge argument with my girlfriend for some trivial reason and break up with her."

"What do you mean by 'trivial reason'?"

"It could be anything from the girl saying 'That's so funny' instead of laughing to me making too many jokes." J.D. realised only once he had finished how bitter that last part had sounded.

"And you say this happens in every relationship you have? Why do think this happens, Dr Dorian?"

"My friends say I'm a commit-a-phoebe and to be honest I can't disagree with them. I meet a great girl and start to panic when it gets serious. I start to look for some little thing that annoys me and ultimately destroy the whole thing."

The shrink made some notes and then thought for a few moments.

"Why do you think you panic like this?" he finally asked

Now J.D. thought for a few moments, trying to find a reason for his panic.

"I honestly don't know. For some reason, I just can't have a serious relationship."

"How many relationships have you sabotaged like this?"

"I've lost count."

"And how far does the relationship go before this happens?"

"Not long. Usually once I take a serious step, like introducing her to my friends, or meeting her parents. The only reason it didn't happen with Kim was --"

"Who's Kim?" the psychologist interrupted.

It was only then that J.D. realised he hadn't mentioned his last girl friend or their unborn child.

"Kim was the girl that I got pregnant on the second date. She moved to Washington but had a miscarriage while she was there."

"I see." said the shrink, making some more notes. "And this commitment fear you have, this didn't happen with Kim?"

"Well, it did at first." J.D. explained. "But once I realised I was going to be a father, I had to give a relationship with Kim a shot."

"Is the relationship still going, even now the baby is gone?"

"No. We decided that the main reason we were together was the baby and with her living in Washington, it would have been better to separate, hope we might see each other again."

"I see." the psychologist repeated and made some more notes. "So, the relationships never last long at all, with the exception of Kim?"

"No." J.D. confirmed. "I mean the last girlfriend I ever got close to was Elliot and that --"

"Elliot?" the therapist interrupted again.

J.D. felt himself let out a sigh.

**Why is everything coming back to my relationship with Elliot lately? I guess there's no way to avoid talking about it now.**

"Elliot is the girl that I work with. I went out with her during my first year, but we had a train wreck of a break up around the time of our first session. We just started to argue all the time. After it ended, our friendship seemed to barely survive. We were kind of on and off for two years after that.

Then, in the third year, I really thought I was in love with her. I convinced her to leave her perfect boyfriend for me. After three years of chasing her, I finally got her before realising I wasn't in love with her at all. I had idealised her. That break up was almost as bad as the first, she didn't talk to me for like a month.

Amazingly, through all of this, today she's one of my best friends in the entire world."

J.D. looked up at the doctor once he had finished to find him looking at J.D. curiously.

"Tell me more about Elliot. What's she like?" he finally asked.

"Where do I start? She's crazy…in a good way. Unbelievably neurotic, she talks faster than anyone I've ever met, can't be talked to whilst on the toilet, her voice goes unnaturally high when she's upset, fingers like biceps, insecure about her eyebrows and, well, she's hot." J.D. answered with a grin.

The therapist had the same contemplating look on his face. He opened his mouth to speak but J.D. interrupted him.

"Oh! And she does this thing we're she blows the bangs out of her eyes but they just fall back in like a second or two. It's actually a little ado…."

**Wait a second, was I just about to refer to Elliot's bang blowing as '_adorable_'??!!**

Deciding to move on quickly, J.D. looked back at the psychologist to see that he had some weird smile on his face.

"……what?" J.D. asked.

"I have a theory………based on everything you've told me." the shrink started. "The reason you broke up with all these seemingly great women…was not because of you're fear of commitment; though I don't deny that you have one, you clearly do."

The shrink saw J.D.'s confused expression and so explained further.

"In fact, the only relationship you ever sabotaged because of your fear of commitment……was the one with Elliot. Hear me out. I believe your first relationship with Elliot ended because you both gave up as soon as it got difficult.

When you finally got her after three years of chasing her, ready to give it a real shot, you panicked. You panicked because you realised you had just started a _real_ relationship with the woman you loved. You became scared and desperate. And in your desperation, you convinced yourself that you didn't love Elliot, that you had been idealising her for three years.

So you may think that your fear of commitment has led you to destroy every relation ship since then, but in reality it has not. The real reason not of those relationships lasted more than a few weeks is simple. You are still in love with Elliot."

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There is is! I do intend to continue with this but please, please, **PLEASE** review and give me your opinions on how it was and whether I should go on. 


	2. My Denial

Okay, folks. Thanks to all who reviewed, they really inspire me to write more so keep 'em comin. You should probably note that J.D.'s fanatsies are in _italic_.

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For the next few hours after his session, J.D. just seemed to drift through the hallways, immersed in his thoughts; stopping only to check on patients.

**There is no absolutely _no way_ I'm still in love with Elliot. To even suggest that I never got over her is completely insane.**

J.D. seemed to keep replaying their shrink's theory over and over again in his head, believing it less every time. Winding up at the nurse's station, he dropped his chart on the counter and put his head in his hands with his elbows also on the counter.

**I can't let this eat at me! The shrink was wrong. I just need to put it out of my mind completely forget about everything he said.**

Focusing on forgetting, J.D. didn't hear the object of the shrink's theory come up behind him.

"Hey, J.D." Elliot said cheerfully.

J.D.'s body jolted again; so much so that it caused his hands that were holding up his face to slip away, and he smacked his head against the counter.

"Oh my god, are you okay?!" Elliot asked, placing a hand on his back. J.D. seemed to almost jump out of his skin at her touch. Elliot was getting worried now.

"J.D., what's wrong?"

"Nothing! I'm just a little tired that's all. Gotta go! Places to see, people to go." J.D. answered as fast as he could and more or less ran down the hall away from Elliot. Once she was out of sight, he leaned against a wall and brought his hands back to his now throbbing head.

**See what this stupid shrink has done to you? You're freaked out around Elliot again! Doesn't he know how hard I've worked to just have a normal friendship with her? Now, he's gone and put all this stupid stuff in my brain and now I can't stand to be touched by her. Friends who can't touch each other? How the hell would that work?**

_Elliot is in J.D.'s apartment with a present in hand._

"_Happy Birthday, buddy! Gimmie a hug!" She says._

_Elliot leans into him with her arms outstretched and he does the same. Both stop about an inch from their body's touching, patting thin air where the other's back would be._

_Elliot attempts to put the present in his hands; she then thinks better of it, puts in on the coffee table in front of them and takes a step back. J.D. moves forward and picks it up and unwraps his present._

"_Wow, a DVD player!! High five!!" J.D. says._

_They both raise their hands to high five before remembering they can't have any contact and lower the hands dejectedly._

**I do need a DVD player. And Elliot always gets me awesome birthday presents. Off topic! Anyway, the point is, the shrinks theory is wrong. He's way off. **

J.D. found himself still on the subject as he sat in the cafeteria during a break with Turk, Carla and Elliot. He had made a point to sit as far away from Elliot as possible.

**How could a guy who's spoken to me twice in six years tell me I've been in love with my best friend for years? I bet he told everybody else stuff that just wasn't true.**

"You should have heard all this stuff the psychologist was saying to me." Carla said. "All these theories on my life and why I do the things that I do."

"Yeah he said stuff like that to me, too!" Elliot told them.

**See, the guy's been giving stupid, untrue theories to everyone!**

"The stuff that he said!" Carla continued. "I mean, at first I denied it. Then, when I thought about, everything he said was true!"

J.D. had to stop himself spitting out his water he had been drinking.

"Same here!" Elliot agreed again. "I couldn't believe it. He was exactly right in everything he said about me."

"You know, the guy said stuff like that to me too." Turk added.

"What about, you J.D.? Did the shrink have any eye-openers for you?" Carla asked.

J.D. shot up from his seat so fast Turk jumped in his seat next to him.

"He's wrong, okay?! He's wrong! The guys had a total of, like, 2 hours conversations with me in six freakin' years. So, there's no way in hell he can know something like that! There's no way he can be right!! He just can't be!"

**Okay that came out a little louder and desperate than intended.**

As he stood there, breathing hard, he saw Elliot, Turk, Carla and everyone else in the cafeteria staring at him with eyes full of shock and confusion. He turned quickly and left.

* * *

After his outburst, the final hours of J.D.'s shift dragged on. News of his eruption spread fast and everyone who passed him in the hall looked apprehensive of him, as if he was a crazed mad man who might break at any moment.

Finally, J.D. made his way to the changing rooms, looking forward to heading home to his apartment where he would try his best not to dwell on this completely ridiculous, untrue theory that he was still in love with Elliot.

As he went in to the changing room, the few guys that were in there quickly shut their lockers and left at the sight of J.D. With a sigh, he made his way over to his own locker and changed out of his scrubs.

As he closed his locker door and turned to leave, he saw Turk standing in the doorway. Turk seemed to look just as afraid of J.D. as everyone else, approaching him reluctantly.

**I bet Carla put him up to this. I'm not telling why I acted like a psycho, I _do not_ feel like talking about it. There's no reason to talk about it; it's stupid and it's not true.**

Turk, now standing in front of him, opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by voice from the doorway.

"Turk, do you mind if I have a private word with J.D.?" said the voice.

As Turk turned to look who was speaking, J.D. saw it was Elliot and felt his heartbeat increase for some reason. Turk looked like Christmas had come early and left as quick as possible. Elliot shut the door behind him and turned to face J.D.

"J.D.," she said. "I think I know why you got so defensive when we were talking about the shrink."

**WHAT?! How could she know? Oh god, when I freaked out as she touched me in the hall!! Was I that obvious??! Wait, what am I panicking for? It's not true……right?**

Distracted by his mental battle, he jumped a little when he realised Elliot was right in front of him. He started to speak but nothing came out. Clearing his throat, he tried again.

"You…er…you do?"

"Yeah." she nodded looking sympathetic.

He waited for her to elaborate, but she stayed silent for a few seconds. Finally, she spoke.

"As soon as I heard the shrink was coming back, I knew you were in for a rough time. I mean, you haven't really talked about Kim or the baby to anyone yet. It was bound to be rough talking to a shrink about for the first time."

**Oh, thank god, she thinks it's about the baby. For a second there I….**

J.D.'s thoughts were interrupted that by a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. Could it be….disappointment?

**No. No. No way. I….I…I just haven't eaten in a while, that's it.**

It was then that he realised that Elliot was still in front of him, looking like she wanted him to say something.

"Oh, yeah. It was a little rough but, I told him I was hanging in there. I also said that I had a friend I could talk to if I was ever depressed about it." he said, adding a grin on the end.

She smiled back, and he noticed that the sun streaming through the window lit up her face.

**Man, she's beautiful.**

This time he didn't even regret thinking it, because that was something he couldn't deny.

"Well, remember that!" she told him. "I gotta get back to work, I don't finish for another hour."

She was gone before he knew it and, despite his panic at her appearance, J.D. felt almost as though he missed her already. He put it down to not hanging out with her in a while and nothing else.

* * *

That night, J.D. did everything he could to take his mind off Elliot. He called Turk, watched T.V. read a book, organised his CD collection, cleaned his bathroom, called Turk again (by this time it was one in the morning, and Carla answered; screaming at him for waking up Izzie) but his thoughts defiantly returned to his blonde friend.

The next morning J.D. and Turk were at the nurses station. J.D. was filling out a chart when he felt a cold hand being placed on his shoulder.

"Morning, guys!" Elliot said. "Where's Carla?"

Turk answered, but J.D. wasn't listening.

**Hey! Elliot's touching me and I haven't jumped out of my skin! How do you like me know mister shrink?**

Soon, Elliot went to find Carla and J.D. felt an odd sense of emptiness now her hand was gone. He shook his head, not allowing himself to go there, and made his way to his patient's room.

Mr. Ockswell and his wife were the happiest old couple in the world. Mr. Ockswell had been in the hospital for a few weeks, awaiting a kidney transplant. The staff were working on finding a donor and were extremely confident he would get one on time.

"How are you feeling today, Mister Ockswell?" J.D. asked

"Pretty good." he answered. "Got a strange craving for a kidney though, any around?"

J.D. chuckled slightly along with Mrs Ockswell.

"We're working on it, sir. Don't worry, we'll have one for you soon enough."

Mrs Ockswell placed her hand on top of her husband's. J.D. smiled, and left not long after. For the first time in 24 hours, his mind seemed to get off the subject of Elliot. He met Turk in the hall of the ICU.

"Hey, Vanilla bear! Carla's working late tonight, I say you and me introduce Izzie to the glorious world of 'Gilmore Girls'. You in?"

"You know it, playa!"

They high-fived as they walked past each other. The day got better as it went along, J.D.'s patients seemed to be doing well, everyone had forgot about his moment of insanity the day before and a stupid psychologist's stupid theory was wrong.

"Bambi," Carla called as J.D. strolled past the nurse's station. "have you seen Elliot? Her break ended five minutes ago."

"No, I haven't." J.D. answered, frowning.

**It's not like Elliot to be late. Maybe I should go look for her.**

As he thought this, he walked past a supply closet and stopped in his tracks. He looked at the door.

**No way. She doesn't do that anymore.**

J.D. decided to check anyway, and sure enough she was there as he opened the door. She grabbed him and pulled him inside, closing the door quickly.

"I cannot let anybody see me back in here." she said, putting an ear against the door to see if anybody had noticed a doctor being dragged into a closet.

"Who exactly is 'anybody'?" J.D. asked.

"Kelso, Carla, Turk, Dr Cox, anybody who knows I used to come in here and cry when the pressure got too much."

"What about me?"

"Well, you're a little different J.D."

"How so?"

"I don't have to hide stuff like this from _you_." she answered as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

**She doesn't feel like she has to hide stuff from me? Does this mean she's more comfortable around me than anybody else? Wait, why do I care?**

"Elliot, what _are_ you doing in here?" he asked. He noticed that, although she was back in the supply closet, she wasn't crying.

"Thinking about stuff." she said vaguely, leaning against the shelves of medical equipment.

"What kind of things?"

She seemed unsure of whether she should tell J.D. but eventually opened her mouth to speak.

"I think I'm going to have to break up with Keith." she said.

J.D. felt his stomach jump and an urge to dance entered his body.

**You don't care about her and Keith, remember?! This is just the stupid shrink putting thoughts in your head.**

"What? Why?" he asked, trying desperately to keep the happiness out of his voice.

"I don't know." she said. "I just feel like we've come to a point where, we can only go further if we're _really_ serious about each other. And every time I picture myself 5 or ten years from now, I just don't see him with me, y'know? I think if I keep this relationship going, I'll just be leading him on and he doesn't deserve that. He's a great guy. He's just……just not the one for me. As well as this, he seems really serious about us, so I'm probably gonna crush him."

She let out a shaky sigh and brought her hands to her face. J.D. moved closer and put his arm around her. They stayed that way for several minutes in silence. J.D. just listened to the sound of her breathing and wondered why he had never found it so peaceful before.

"Well," Elliot finally said, stepping out of J.D.'s touch and turning to face him. "I better get back to work."

J.D. nodded in reply and smiled.

"I really appreciate you being here for me J.D. You're a good friend."

J.D.'s smile faulted slightly at the word 'friend'. He then noticed, that Elliot had turned her gaze to feet, seemingly very interested in them.

"Look," she said, quietly so he could barely hear. "chances are I'm gonna be super depressed after I talk with Keith tonight. Do you……think that….maybe…if you're not too busy you could…swing by my apartment later. I don't think I'm gonna want to be alone."

"Of course I will." J.D. answered immediately. She raised her gaze and shot him a beautiful smile, biting her lower lip slightly.

* * *

_Elliot had gone missing again. J.D. instantly made his way to the supply closet. Once again, he was dragged in as soon as he opened the door, although this time he was also shoved up against the shelves and he felt Elliot press her body against his._

"_I lied before." she said, breathing heavily._

"_What?" J.D. asked, completely shocked at what was happening._

"_All that stuff about him not being right for me, that's not the reason I'm breaking up with Keith." she answered._

"_Then…what is the reason?" J.D.'s voice came out hoarse._

_Elliot had moved her face up towards his. When their lips where inches apart and she was about to close the distance, she answered his question in a voice barley above a whisper._

"_You."_

"BAMBI!!" came Carla's voice, shaking him from his dream.

J.D.'s eyes shot open and he jumped into a seated position. He was in the doctor's lounge, and had been sleeping on the couch during his lunch break.

"J.D.? Are you okay?" Carla looked worried standing in front of him.

"I'm fine, why?" he lied.

"You where breathing really heavy in you sleep. Where you having a nightmare."

"Oh, it definitely wasn't a nightmare."

She looked as though she wanted to question him further but was interrupted when Turk walked in, kissed her and lead her over to the table behind the couch as they talked about something. J.D. meanwhile was still in shock at what he had just dreamt.

**This is completely normal. Friends have weird sex dreams about friends all the time. They mean NOTHING.**

Carla and Turk had finished whatever they where discussing and J.D. was glad when she took his mind away from his dream.

"So you're off tonight, right Bambi? What are you up to?"

Behind him, Turk had opened his mouth to answer for him, but he didn't see.

"Elliot asked me to come over later, so I'll probably just go hang out at her place."

"Dude!" came Turk's voice from behind him. He turned around to face his best friend.

"You're coming over to our place tonight, remember?"

"Oh crap! I kinda told Elliot I'd go to her place, too."

"Well, tell her I asked you first." Turk said, as though it was the obvious choice.

J.D. hesitated.

"Turk, I wanna hang out with Elliot." he said carefully.

He winced when he saw the betrayed look on Turk's face. Carla was looking at him to, in shock.

"It's nothing personal." J.D. tried to explain, but guessed he was the only one Elliot had talked to about Keith. He wasn't going to betray her trust.

"It's just that me and Elliot haven't hung out in a long time."

"We haven't really hung out since Carla got pregnant!" Turk shot back.

Turk's voice was growing louder and J.D. felt his volume rising as well.

"Well, that's true but--"

"What? Did you hook up with Elliot again?"

"No."

"So, you just wanna hang out with her more than me? Is that it? She's you're new best friend now?"

"Yeah, that's exactly it!!"

Turk stared at him, looking both shocked and hurt. He half-expected J.D. to take back his comment, but he didn't. He just stared back until Turk eventually walked out of the room. Carla followed him not long afterwards and J.D. sat back down on the couch, letting out a sigh and running his hands through his hair.

**Elliot, what the hell are you doing to me?**

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Hope you liked it! I personally feel that J.D.'s denial got a little bit annoying; but I really want him to just plain not believe that he's in love with Elliot for as long as he can. Again, a thank you to those who reviewed. Please let me know what you thought of the second chapter. Also, I'd like to request that more people write J.D./Elliot stories because, as it was said in a review, there is a serious shortage of them on this site. I'll have chapter 3 up A.S.A.P.!


	3. My Realization

Okay, folks. Here is chapter 3. Thank you to everyone who reviews and please keep them coming.

* * *

Turk avoided all of J.D.'s attempts to talk to him for the rest of the day. J.D. really wanted to take back his comment but couldn't truthfully do so. He _did_ want to go and see Elliot tonight more than he wanted to go hang out with Turk. In fact, J.D. found himself craving Elliot's company. If he past her in the hall or met her at the nurse's station, he tried to make the conversation last as long as possible, and was always upset when she finally had to go back to work. He continued to tell himself this was all on account of the fact that he hadn't hung out with Elliot in a really long time. He had been busy with Kim while she was here; and Elliot had been busy with Keith.

_Had_ been busy with Keith.

Although J.D.'s brain seemed to have a logical explanation for every weird feeling he got around Elliot, it couldn't seem to come up with a reason why he was so happy to hear Elliot was about to be single again.

However, he did feel a twinge of sympathy when he was helping Keith with a patient.

**Any idiot can see that he's crazy about Elliot. But she's right; if she keeps the relationship going even though she doesn't think they're right, she's just going to hurt him more when she finally breaks it off.**

Carla was also not talking to him. Not because she was pissed with him, but out of loyalty to her man. If she was honest, she enjoyed the fact that Turk was focusing all his attention on her for

once. So, J.D. had more or less two people to talk to in the hospital. There was Elliot, who was so busy that he hardly got to speak two words to her when she passed him; and there was……

"Afternoon, Sarah." Dr Cox said as he entered Mr Ockswell's room and picked up his chart.

"Afternoon, Dr Cox." he replied in a miserable voice. J.D. had become so lonely that he had come to talk to Mr Ockswell, who J.D. found to be asleep. He had been leaning against the wall in sadness.

"Newbie, the only way you could be less productive right now," Dr Cox said, placing the chart back on the end of the bed. "is if you were, in fact, the wall on which you lean against. Of course, then you'd just be provid…..wait a second. I feel as though I've used this rant before."

He made a face as though he was trying to remember when, but J.D. interrupted.

"I'm just a little lonely. Turk's pissed off at me, Carla's staying loyal to him by also not talking to me and Elliot, well, Elliot's too busy today to breathe. So I came in here to see if Mr Ockswell wanted to ta--"

"Yeah, I'm not listening." the older doctor said harshly and left, with J.D. following.

"I've had a lot on my mind lately," he started again.

"Don't care!" Dr Cox told him, but he kept going as though nothing had been said.

"That stupid shrink was telling me all kinds of crap yesterday that quite frankly, just --"

"-- wasn't true!" Cox finished for him.

Cox had stopped in his tracks and was now staring at J.D. with a weird expression.

"What did he say to you." he asked.

"Oh, all kinds of stuff." J.D. answered, not wanted to go into specifics. "Stupid theories on how I feel about people that were just plain crazy."

"That pathetic excuse for a doctor said the same kind of bullshit to me."

**Finally! Someone in the same situation as me!**

"So, what did you do? I personally told he was wrong and stormed out. How about you?"

J.D. saw Dr Cox's eyes drift upwards and to the side a little and wondered what he was thinking.

_(Dr. Cox's flashback)_

_Dr Cox is sitting across from the shrink in the same position J.D. was._

"_Here's what I think." the shrink says. "I think you actually like the fact that these doctors, who you more or less took under you wing as they went from interns to the attending they are today, still seek you guidance. I think that it saddens you that they don't do it as much as they used to. Furthermore, I believe that you are extremely proud of the doctor that 'J.D.' has become, almost in the way a father would be proud of how his son turned out."_

_Dr Cox's eyes narrow and he seems to be twitching in anger._

_Outside the room, passers by stop and stare at the door because loud noises of banging and smashing can be heard coming from inside._

_Dr Cox comes out of the room, breathing heavily and looks around at the doctors and nurses staring at him in shock._

"_Someone…….someone might wanna check on him." he says, indicating to the room behind him, and walks away quickly._

Dr Cox looked back at J.D. and shook his head.

"I don't really remember, it's kind of blurry. Anyway, that doesn't matter. The point is the guy is just jealous because we're the _real_ doctors and he's trying to throw us off our game."

J.D. gasped dramatically and looked shocked.

"No!" he said.

"Yes, Newbie. So let's not give him the satisfaction of doing so. Forget everything idiotic theory he suggested. Agreed?"

He stretched out his hand and J.D. shook it.

"Agreed." he said and they both walked away in opposite directions.

**Dr Cox was right. The shrink was an evil genius, attempting to ruin us _real _doctors by putting confusing thoughts in our head. Having my mentor share a similar story of a stupid theory only re-enforced my belief that I was not in love with E--**

Elliot suddenly came round the corner and knocked into J.D., dropping about three charts in the process.

"Frick!" she said, blowing the bangs out of her face and bending down to pick up the charts. J.D. couldn't help but smile and even let out a little laugh.

"Thanks, J.D. That's exactly what I needed today. I'm avoiding Keith, crazy busy, dropping charts and now your laughing at me."

"No, I was just……I'm sorry." he told her.

Her face softened slightly.

"It's okay, I'm just…having a bad day. You're still coming over tonight, right?" she asked.

"Absolutely" he replies, not noticing Turk walking past them, until Turk made an angry snorting noise. Elliot looked at Turk's retreating form in confusion.

"Is he pissed at us?" she asked.

"Just me."

"Why?"

"Cause I said I would……" He caught himself before telling her that he had blown of Turk for her. "You know what, I don't even really know. Just guy stuff."

"Yeah." she nodded. "So, I'll see you later." she said, placing a hand briefly on his arm before walking away. J.D. watched her until she turned a corner.

**There's that weird feeling in my stomach again. I must be hungry! That's it. Although, I only ate like an hour ago.**

**

* * *

**

Once J.D. was finally off and out of his scrubs, he looked all over the hospital for Elliot. He needed to know what time to come over as he _really_ did not want to walk in on Elliot breaking up with Keith.

**Awkward!**

He checked the ICU; she wasn't there. He checked the nurse's station; she wasn't there. He checked the doctors lounge; she wasn't there… but Turk was. He was on his break and watching the T.V., but turned to J.D. as he entered.

"Hey." he said but Turk just looked back at the T.V.

"Why are you still here, I thought you'd be off by now." Turk asked, eyes still on the T.V.

"Oh, I'm looking for Ell………Dr Cox. I'm looking for Dr Cox."

Turk laughed bitterly at his sucky cover up. An awkward silence followed.

"Listen, Turk…" J.D. started, but Turk cut him off.

"Don't, man."

With a sigh, he turned around to leave. As he did, he heard Turk's bitter voice from behind him.

"Good luck finding Elliot; she's all over the place today."

* * *

J.D. never did find Elliot, but found out that she got off around 6, and Keith at 7. Thinking Elliot would talk to Keith as soon as he got home, he decided to head over there around 8:30.

As he walked up her street, he saw Keith leave the house and walk down the other end of street, thankfully not seeing J.D.

J.D. finally reached her front door and it swung open not even 2 seconds after he had knocked. All he saw was a blur of blonde hair and the next thing he knew, Elliot had her arms wrapped around him, crying against his chest.

"J.D." she cried. "It was horrible."

He led her into her living room and sat next to her on the couch with his arm around her.

"At first, he was really quiet; like he was shell-shocked. I told him I just didn't think we were going to work out. Then he just freaked out. Asking me if…if…"

"If what?" J.D. asked.

Elliot looked directly at her carpeted floor and said:

"……if this was about you, J.D."

He honestly didn't know how to react to that, so he just stayed silent.

"I tried to tell him we were just friends but he wouldn't listen. He kept asking me why I had even starting dating him if I wasn't over you. Then he kind of broke down…crying."

The last part came out as though it physically hurt Elliot to say it. So, J.D. squeezed her shoulder a little.

"Don't beat yourself up about this. You had no choice in the matter." he told her firmly.

She looked at him with teary eyes.

"Really?" she asked.

"Of course. Like you said: if you would have kept it going when you knew it ultimately wasn't going to work out, you would have just been building him up for a bigger fall."

She nodded but he didn't think she really believed him. After a while, she spoke up again.

"The way he looked at me……like I'd ripped out his heart. Just thinking about it makes me feel like such a horrible person."

She bowed her head but he placed a finger under her chin and brought her gaze up so that it was level with his.

"Hey. You are the most caring, considerate, loving person I've ever met. Keith is just hurt right now. You did the right thing tonight."

For a minute, both just looked into the other's eyes; Elliot finding reassurance from friend and J.D. finding feelings he didn't understand, or didn't want to understand yet. Eventually, though, Elliot laid her head on J.D.'s shoulder and J.D. leant his head against hers.

To J.D., they seemed to stay like that for hours. He soon became aware that Elliot had fallen asleep, but he didn't want to move. For some reason, he just wanted to sit there; feel her lying against him, hear he breathing in and out, take in the smell of her hair.

Finally, J.D. laid Elliot out on her couch, put a blanket over her, and went home.

* * *

The next morning, J.D. woke up surprisingly refreshed; which was weird considering he got back from Elliot's quite late.

**I feel good today; I don't know why. Just feel like it's gonna be a good one. The last couple of days have been stressful and confusing for me, considering the thoughts put into my head by that stupid psychologist. But something about last night seemed to, for lack of a better word, relax me.**

J.D. had even arrived for his shift twenty minutes early, and so was just strolling round the hospital, hands in his pockets, thinking about everything that had happened to him lately.

**I've taken Dr Cox's advice and tried to pretend that everything that was said to me the other day, didn't happen. I pretend that the shrink agreed with me that I've screwed up every relationship I've ever had because of my fear of commitment.**

J.D. glanced to his right, and saw through a room window. He stopped in his tracks and walked towards the window. A father was handing a baby that could only be a few hours old to it's mother.

Thoughts of his unborn child came rushing to the front of his mind. He had been busy with Elliot that he hadn't really thought about it lately. That made him feel a little guilty. J.D. made a mental note to call Kim; just to see how she was doing.

He stayed there for minute or two, thankful that the new parents didn't see the weird doctor staring at their baby.

Suddenly, he felt a hand take hold of his. Looking, up he saw Elliot with a expression that was a mixture of sadness and… guilt?

"J.D., I'm so sorry." she started. "I bitched about my break up all of yesterday and didn't even think to ask how you where doing."

"Don't worry about it."

A comfortable silence followed until Elliot broke it.

"It's hurts doesn't it."

"Yeah." J.D. answered in a low voice. "Kim would have been getting big now. I would have been getting excited. Probably looking at the ultra sound every chance I got."

Elliot squeezed his hand and put her head on his shoulder. J.D. put his head against his, and they stayed there, just like they were last night, for a while.

When J.D. had to start his shift, they let go of each other's hand and turned around to see Keith standing a few feet away, looking both hurt and angry. He stormed off and Elliot ran after him.

* * *

Three hours into his shift, after being puked on and having two _extremely_ tense meetings with Keith, J.D. was eager to take his break. He luckily found the doctor's lounge empty, turned off the T.V. and sat down on the couch. He folded his arms across his chest and closed his eyes.

**During a hectic day, it's important that you take a little time to yourse--**

Suddenly, the door flew open and Carla entered, dragging Turk behind her.

"J.D., two need to talk." she told him.

**Will I ever get to have a break during my break?**

"I tried to talk to him yesterday, Carla." J.D. said. "But he wouldn't listen."

"That's because I don't want to talk to a backstabber." Turk made a move to leave but was stopped by his wife's voice.

"Christopher!"

"I don't understand why your so pissed off at me." J.D. said.

"You don't understand? You told me Elliot was your new best friend!"

"I don't remember not talking to you when you started hanging out with Carla instead of me."

"That was different!" Turk shouted.

"Yeah? How?" J.D. asked.

"I was in love with her." Turk shot back.

"How is that dif…." J.D. trailed off and his expression turned from one of anger to confusion.

**What the hell? Was I just about to ask how this situation is different? Oh, crap. This stupid shrink is getting to me again. I need help.**

"I have to go." he told Turk and Carla, leaving them wondering why the argument had so suddenly stopped.

J.D. basically ran around the hospital looking for his mentor. He finally saw him looking over a chart at the nurses station.

"Dr Cox!" he said, breathless from his run.

"What is it, Christa?" Cox asked, not taking his eyes from the chart.

"I'm having trouble with what we talked about yesterday. Y'know, the shrink; and pretending it didn't happen."

This time, Cox looked up at J.D.

"Even when I'm focused on something else it just keeps coming back. Like, just now, I was arguing with Turk and out of nowhere it came to me and I just --"

"Look, Newbie. You're not trying hard enough. If you keep letting this thing get to you then the shrink's have won. And by standing here talking to me about it you're doing the same thing. Now clear your mind, okay. It didn't happen."

He stared at his mentor for a second, swallowed and nodded. Then he tried to clear his mind of everything that was remotely linked to Elliot.

"I'm going to check on Mr Ockswell, you comin'?" Cox asked.

"Yeah." J.D. answered, thankful for a distraction.

When they got to Mr Ockswell's room, his wife was there already; along with Turk.

**Now, the surgeon wouldn't normally come and see the patient this early, I mean, we haven't even found a donor yet. But Mr Ockswell such a really nice guy that everyone comes to see him.**

Turk and J.D. avoided each other's gazes. As Turk was standing next to the bed, J.D. stayed by the door. Cox looked at the machines hooked up to Mr Ockswell.

"How're feelin' today, Mr Ockswell?" Cox asked.

"Same as yesterday." the old man answered, cheerily.

J.D. noticed again that Mrs Ockswell was holding her husband's hand and couldn't resist asking:

"Mr Ockswell, if you don't mind me asking, how did you and your wife meet."

The couple shared knowing smiles.

"We knew each other for a long time before we started dating." Mrs Ockswell said.

"We were friends in college. Best friends. Then, one day. I realised I was in love with her." Mr Ockswell said, squeezing his wife's hand.

"I'd been in love with her since the beginning," he went on. "just didn't realise it. I had been in denial for years."

"Y'know," Turk spoke up. "the same thing kind of happened to me. I kept telling myself that I wasn't in love with my girlfriend, then one day it just took hold of me; and now she's my wife."

"I'd convinced myself that I was over Jordan for nearly two years; that I hated her." Dr Cox said, turning to face the couple and Turk. "But, eventually, it gets you. You can't fight love; not forever."

"Son," said Mrs Ockswell to J.D. "are you alright?"

She had asked this because J.D. was gripping the chart in his hand and the colour had drained from his face. His mouth hung open in shock.

All he could think about was her. Her smile. Her laugh. Her smell. Her 'Frick's. Her bang-blowing.

**Oh, God. I'm in love with Elliot!**

* * *

Hope you liked it and _please_ review!!


	4. My Fallout

Chapter 4!

* * *

_Previously:_

_"Son," said Mrs Ockswell to J.D. "are you alright?"_

_She had asked this because J.D. was gripping the chart in his hand and the colour had drained from his face. His mouth hung open in shock._

_All he could think about was her. Her smile. Her laugh. Her smell. Her 'Frick's. Her bang-blowing._

_**Oh, God. I'm in love with Elliot!**_

"Newbie? Newbie? **NEWBIE!**" Dr Cox roared.

J.D. jumped at the sudden volume of Dr Cox's voice and dropped the chart in his hands.

"Newbie, what the hell?"

"Dude, you okay?" Turk asked.

"I'm f-fine." J.D. stuttered, picking up his clipboard. "I j-just have to g-go."

He bolted out the door, leaving the three people left in the room thoroughly confused; but he didn't care about that right now. After what he had just realised, he was highly likely to have a panic attack.

**The shrink was right! I am in love with Elliot. God, how did I not realise this? What the hell have I been doing for the past six years? **

J.D. had intended to head to the staff lounge, but was so wrapped up in thoughts that he didn't even realise that he was just walking at a fast pace around the hospital, with no real destination.

**What if she finds out? Do I want her to find out? Hell no, she might laugh in my face. Okay, calm down, there's no way she'll find out. You're the only one that knows; nobody else in the entire hospital has a clue.**

Just then, Dr Kelso walked past him.

"Ah, Dr Dorian." he said. "I hear you're up to your old tricks with Dr Reid, again, eh sport?"

J.D. felt his eyes widen and his heart beat increase significantly.

"Who told you that?" he asked Kelso.

"Word gets around!" the Chief of Medicine said, before walking away.

"So, J.D." the Todd said, appearing out of nowhere. "Have you banged Elliot yet? Well, y'know, banged her _again_."

"I hope not." Laverne said from his seat at the nurse's station. "She only broke up with her boyfriend last night. It ain't marriage, but you can bet your ass Jesus still won't approve!"

J.D. thought he might be having that panic attack sooner rather than later.

**HOW DO THEY KNOW?! I just admitted it to myself 10 minutes ago!!**

Wherever J.D. went, the hospital staff were asking him about Elliot. He needed to hide somewhere. So, he took a page out of Elliot's book and entered the nearest supply closet.

As soon as he was in, J.D. closed his eyes, leaned back against the door and run his hands through his hair.

"Oh, thank God! It's just you."

J.D.'s eyes shot open at the sound of someone else's voice, and was so shocked to see Elliot leaning against the opposite wall that he jumped and let out a yell, causing her to do the same.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" he asked, trying to get his breathing back under control.

"Hiding." she answered.

"From who?"

"Everybody.

By the look on J.D.'s face, she clearly had to explain further.

"Word has gotten around that Keith thinks I broke up with him because of you. That combined with Laverne seeing us this morning holding hands means that everyone in the hospital now thinks we're back together again." she said, fast as only Elliot could talk.

**Oh, thank God! So, the hospital doesn't know everything I've been thinking about lately.**

"Everywhere I go, either the women are calling me 'Slut' or the guys………well, the guys are calling me 'Slut' too; but they think it's a good thing."

J.D. let out a long sigh before he leaned forward against one of the shelves.

"This is just like the time in high school when I was seeing this guy." Elliot went on. "I broke up with him 'cause I found out he had been videotaping me behind my back. However, the guy takes it upon himself to tell the school that the real reason I broke up with him was because I was having an affair with his father. What the kids at school didn't know was that the guy's father had died years ago!! People in the halls used to ask me how my sugar daddy was and put pictures of naked old guys in my locker. Eventually, people found out the guy had no father and had actually planted a camera in the girl's locker room. He got expelled and last I heard he owns a bar in New York."

She finished her long and pointless story by blowing the bangs out of her face and J.D., despite everything else going on, actually found himself laughing.

**Only she could make me laugh at a time like this.**

"So, what are we going to do." Elliot asked, once J.D.'s laughter had stopped.

"Well," he answered her, "I suppose people will realise eventually that we're not dating."

"Yeah, but what about until then?"

"We'll just have to put up with it. If they don't believe us when we're telling the truth, what else can we do?"

After that, they were silent for a minute. Elliot eventually broke it.

"J.D., I'm so sorry about this." she said, and J.D. saw she was close to crying.

"What're you talking about? You didn't start the rumour." he said.

"I know but, lately, I've been such a burden on you."

"Elliot, you haven't been a --"

"Yes, J.D., I have. But, I promise, I'll make it up to you, okay?"

She stepped up on the tip of her toes and placed a kiss on his cheek. As soon as her lips made contact, J.D. felt an overwhelming urge to grab her and kiss her on the lips passionately. So much so, that he had to force his hands to stay at his side.

"Well, I'd better go. I don't want to think what would happen if someone saw us in here together." Elliot said.

J.D. gave her a weak smile. She made a move to open the door but suddenly stopped.

"Hey, J.D. What were you hiding in here for?" she asked.

"Err…the same as you. Wanted to get away from it all." he answered.

**Well, it's not really a lie; I just didn't want to get away from the same thing she did.**

She nodded, and before she left she shot J.D. one last smile.

J.D. felt his knees go slightly weak.

_

* * *

_

J.D.'s mind was in overdrive. The realization that he was still in love with Elliot consumed every trail of thought his mind produced. The only time he wasn't thinking about it was when he was with his patients. She was on his mind so much so that he had actually made the mistake of calling a few of his patients 'Elliot'; something that the injured boxer in room 204 did not take too kindly to.

On top of that, everyone in the hospital was convinced that the rumour that he had gotten back together with Elliot after she broke up with Keith last night was entirely true. This meant that the nurse's were disgusted with him; the only nurse he could get any help from was Carla. The rest of the staff seemed to shake their heads in a disgusted way whenever he passed them.

It didn't bother J.D., weirdly enough. He had always been so worried about what other people in the hospital thought of him. But, right now, the whole being in love with Elliot thing kind of took up most of his time.

When he got a break, he spent in the cafeteria. He hadn't been there for five minutes before Turk dropped into the seat across from him.

"'Sup V-bear." Turk said.

"Does this mean your talking to me now?" J.D. asked.

"Yeah, it does. Look man, if you didn't want to hang out yesterday because you and Elliot hooked up again, why didn't you just say so?"

J.D. let out a frustrated sigh.

"Because we _haven__'__t_ hooked up again." he said.

**Although I'm starting to hope that we will. Whoa! Where did that come from? Let's take this slow, okay J.D.?**

"Dude, you don't have to lie to me. The whole hospital knows."

"Turk, listen to me." J.D. said in a firm voice. "Elliot broke up with Keith last night because she didn't think the relationship was going anywhere. Keith freaked out and came to the conclusion that Elliot wasn't over me. This morning, I was kinda bummed out about the baby and Elliot was there for me."

He stopped when he saw Turk raise his eyebrows at his 'there for me' comment.

"I mean she held my hand and stuff, man! C'mon!"

"Oh! My bad!" Turk apologised.

"Anyway," J.D. went on. "Keith saw the aforementioned hand-holding and, well, you can probably guess how he reacted. Unfortunately, Laverne saw the whole thing which means --"

"It was spread around the hospital before you can say 'Mole-butt'" Turk finished for him.

"Yeah."

J.D. made a mental note to kill Laverne as Turk thought something over.

"So," he started. "why _did_ you go over to Elliot's place last night?"

"Because she breaking up with Keith! She said she was gonna be bummed out and asked if I would come over. I didn't tell you because she told me to keep it quiet."

Turk looked extremely relieved and let out a sigh to prove it.

"Dude, sorry I was such an ass yesterday." he told J.D.

"It's alright, Chocolate Bear. You didn't know."

"We gotta get back to work, you comin'?" Turk asked, looking at his watch.

"Yeah." J.D. replied and he got up and followed Turk out of the cafeteria.

"I gotta tell you," Turk said, laughing a little. "For a minute there, I thought you _did_ care more about Elliot that me, Vanilla Bear."

J.D.'s smile faulted and he stayed silent.

**

* * *

**

J.D. had been off for about fifteen minutes but didn't have the energy to change and go home. So he sat once again on the couch in an empty doctor's lounge, his hand rubbing his eyes.

For the past couple of hours, J.D. struggled to cope with the news that he had been in love with Elliot for six years. Every now and then, his denial tried to make a comeback. But all it took was a smile from Elliot as he passed her in the hall. His heartbeat would increase, he would fumble anything he had in his hands, and struggle to stop himself doing things to her right in the middle of the hall.

That's when it _really_ hit him. How big this was. This wasn't like in high school, when a guy would tell a girl he loved her to get her into bed. J.D. was crazy, uncontrollably, head over heels in love with Elliot Reid.

And it scared him.

It scared him because there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn't convince himself that he was idealising her because he knew in his heart it just wasn't true. He couldn't pick something that got on his nerves and screw up their relationship because they weren't dating. And also because he couldn't find a single fault that she had. Every time he thought of something other people found annoying (light-speed talking, bang-blowing, long and pointless stories, etc.) he discovered that these were the things he loved the most.

He wondered what he was going to do. He was pretty sure he couldn't go back to being friends with her.

**Were we ever actually just friends?**

And, if he made a move, she might freak out and he could end up losing her forever.

And then he thought of a world without Elliot in his life. Panic and fear bubbled in his stomach even though he hadn't even done anything yet. His breathing sped up to the point people watching him would probably think he was having a asthma attack or something.

Just then, Dr Cox entered the room.

"Hey, Newbie. What's up?" he asked, sitting next to J.D. and putting his soap on the T.V., apparently oblivious to J.D.'s state.

"He was right." J.D. croaked out.

"What's that, Judy?" Cox asked, though his eyes where still on the television.

"The shrink; he was right." J.D. repeated.

Dr Cox took his eyes off the T.V. and turned them on J.D. They were as angry as J.D. had ever seen them.

"Now, wait a God-damn minute there, Newbie. We talked about this. About not letting the phoney doctor win. Remember?"

J.D. let out a laugh that had no trace of amusement in it.

"It's too late. I've already realised it. And I'm screwed. Completely, utterly screwed."

Now, in spite of himself, Dr Cox seemed worried. What had the shrink said to the poor kid?

"Newbie, what the hell did the guy say to you?"

But J.D. apparently hadn't heard him. His eyes had a faraway look in them; but not his usual faraway look.

"How did I not even realised after six years of being around her, and this guy seemed to know everything."

"Newbie, look at me! You need to fight this. The guy is messing with your head. Whatever he told you, it's not true."

J.D. seemed to come back to reality and looked at Dr Cox.

"I have to get out of here or I'll go insane." he mumbled and then got up and left without another word.

"Newbie! Newbie!" Cox called after him but he didn't come back.

He let out a sigh, and turned back to the T.V.

"Should probably tell Carla to talk to him. And to Barbie, too. She looks like she's having a rough time today." he mumbled to himself.

The shrinks words echoed through Cox's head and he went slightly rigid on the couch.

"I mean it's not like I care about the stupid kids or anything!" he shouted, as if trying to convince himself. Then he focused on the T.V. and forced himself to forget everything he had said in the past minute.

J.D. walked straight out of the hospital, still in his scrubs. He stopped in the parking lot when he realised he didn't know where he was going.

**I need to talk about this to someone, anyone. Turk? Hell no, probably freak out like he did yesterday. Dr Cox? Yeah, 'cause our last conversation just went so well. Janitor? What the hell am I thinking?!**

"Bambi!"

J.D. whirled round and saw Carla coming out of the Hospital doors.

**I've never been so happy to see her in my life.**

"You, okay? You look like you've had a rough day." she said, walking towards him.

"You have no idea." J.D. answered.

Carla saw the look in J.D.'s eyes that told her he needed someone to talk to.

"Wanna get a drink?" she asked.

J.D. nodded and they walked to the bar in silence.

Once they were there and had gotten drinks, they took a table in the corner.

"So, what's up, Bambi?"

J.D. seemed hesitant.

**The thing about Carla is, while she's always good to talk to, if it's about someone in the hospital she finds it hard to keep it to herself.**

"Okay, look." J.D. started. "I really need to talk to you about this but you have to promise me that it will _never_ leave this room."

"If this is about you and Elliot getting back together, I know it's just a rumour."

"No, it's not about that. This is different. I need you to promise never to tell anyone about this."

There was something like desperation in J.D.'s eyes, and it scared Carla.

"Of course, Bambi."

J.D. nodded, swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and prepared to shock Carla to her core.

"Carla, that rumour about me and Elliot _isn't_ true but……………I'm still in love with her."

J.D. paused and waited for the gasp; but it never came.

He looked up to see Carla looking at him as if he was going to carry on with his confession. He shot her a look that told her he was finished.

"Is that it?" Carla asked.

"Yes! Why aren't you shocked."

"Because I already know, Bambi." Carla asked, as if she was talking to a small child. "I've know for a long time."

"You knew! Why didn't you tell me!"

"_You_ didn't know?! How? You're the one in love with her."

"Well, according to Mr-Know-It-All Shrink, I've been in denial for six years; subconsciously destroying every relationship I'm in because of it." J.D. said bitterly.

Realisation dawned on Carla.

"Ohhh! So _that's _why you freaked out at lunch the other day?"

"Yeah. Carla, I'm screwed, what am I going to do?"

"Look, you have to make choice. You've known Elliot for six years, during the last three of which you've managed to build a normal friendship. I'm not gonna lie to you and say you won't be risking that if you make a move. So you can either go for it, or try to get over her."

"Carla, you don't understand. I don't want to risk losing Elliot; just the thought of it scares the hell out of me. But, I've been trying to get over her since I was an intern. And for the last three years, I'd convinced myself that I'd done just that. But y'know what I've realised? I'll never be able to get over her. It's just not something I can do. I love her. It complicates every single aspect of my life but, God help me, I love her."

By the look on her face, Carla clearly wasn't expecting that and J.D. felt a little surprised at his own words too. He knew every single word of it was true, though. He dropped his head against the table.

"I am screwed on so many levels." he said.

* * *

As usual, thankyou to all those who have reviewed this story. Please let me know what you think of this chapter. 


	5. My Mentor's Fury

A few notes before we begin.

1) Dr Cox's thoughts in this chapter are underlined.

2) I just want to explain Dr Cox's behaviour in this chapter. Dr Cox is a guy that doesn't like anyone getting close to him. This is his therapist's comment from 'His Story': "behind this boorish bravado of yours is a paralyzing fear of letting anyone into your life." Now the shrink from this story has told him that, without him knowing, he's let people like J.D., Elliot and Turk into his life and actually cares for them. Like J.D. did, he's trying to deny it but it's becoming more and more clear that he does care for these people. So, he's super-pissed because he's angry at himself for letting his guard down without realising it. That's the reason he's so mean in this chapter.

3) I don't own Scrubs OR Die Hard, but a crossover would be AWESOME!

* * *

A whole week had passed since J.D. had come to the realisation that he was still in love with Elliot, and the days seemed to be getting worse. 

The majority of the hospital staff still took the rumour that Elliot had left Keith for J.D. as the truth. The only people who didn't were Carla, Turk and Dr Cox. But that didn't stop everyone else from making life hard for J.D. and Elliot.

The two received no help from any nurses except for Carla, found that Keith's fellow interns just disobeyed their orders and, as if the staff whispering wasn't enough, news of the 'affair' had reached J.D. and Elliot's patients. Patients were actually starting to switch off their service.

Turk found the whole situation to be hilarious; Carla had attempted to talk sense into patients; and Dr Cox had even taken a stand against the nurses.

**Well, sort of……**

_J.D. is standing at the nurse's station._

"_Laverne, do you have the contact information for Mr Omar?" he asked her._

"_Well, I did. But it ran off with another patients contact information, even though I thought it was committed to me." she snaps, and her and the rest of the nurses give J.D. the evil eye._

_**I bet the Janitor taught them that!**_

_Dr Cox walks past and sees the whole thing. He slams the chart he was carrying on the counter, causing everyone to jump._

"_Now, wait just a damn minute!" he says. "How dare you judge this doctor? And about something you don't even know is the truth or not!"_

_The nurses look at their shoes while J.D. feels a great rush of gratitude towards his mentor. But Dr Cox isn't finished._

"_Now let me set the record straight about the rumours concerning this doctor and Doctor Reid. This doctor is NOT in a relationship with Dr Reid. You know how I know that? Because I know for a fact that this doctor," he says, pointing at J.D. "is NOT a lesbian! This gal is crazy about MEN. She's into big, rugged studs, aren't you, Cathy?"_

_The nurses try to stop themselves from laughing._

"_Thanks for your help." J.D. says to Dr Cox, his voice dripping with sarcasm._

"_You're welcome." Dr Cox shoots back, pats J.D. on the shoulder and walks away._

**To me, the staff's disgust towards me is just an inconvenience. My biggest problem? The fact that I'm insanely in love with my best friend. Elliot seems to be on my mind 24/7. It's exhausting, really. I feel like I need a break. Like if I can just stay away from her awhile, I can relax a little bit.**

J.D. sat in his apartment watching T.V. after another long day.

**But, lately, that's easier said than done.**

"If you get up, can you get me another beer?" Elliot said, sitting next to him on his couch.

**Between her break up with Keith and abuse she's currently taking from the hospital, Elliot has been a little clingy lately.**

J.D. got up and made his way to his refrigerator.

"Where are you going?" Elliot asks in a panicked voice.

"I'm just going to get you're beer." J.D. answered, soothingly.

"Oh. Hurry back then, okay?"

**Why couldn't she be clingy with Carla. Although, it is a nice feeling that she comes over here for comfort. Argh! This is what drives me insane. I want to stay away from Elliot, because when she's around and all I want to do is kiss her, its like torture to me. But, when she's not around, I crave her company. This woman will put me in a mental asylum.**

J.D. sat back down on the couch and handed Elliot her beer.

"Thanks. God, what a day! As if I wasn't going through enough, now Dr Cox seems pissed off at me." Elliot said.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, it just seems like he's watching everything I do and telling me I'm doing it wrong. Just like he used to do when I was an intern."

Before J.D. could answer, his phone started to ring.

"Hello?" he answered. "Yeah, she's here with me. What? Okay, I'll ask her."

J.D. turned to Elliot.

"It's Carla; she and Turk are gonna catch a movie, she wants to know if we wanna go too."

"Nah," Elliot said, yawning at the same time. "I'm too tired to do anything right now, I just feel like staying here."

"She say's we'll pass." J.D. told Carla.

"Bambi," Carla said on the other end of the phone. "she's been at your place every night for the past week. What's going on?"

J.D. lowered his voice so Carla wouldn't here him.

"She's having a tough time, lately. I just don't think she wants to be alone."

"Yeah, but she usually clings to me when she gets like that. Why's she running to you this time?"

J.D. caught the jealous tone in Carla's voice. His eyes then flickered to the blonde on the couch next to him, as a crazy thought passed through him. It disappeared as quickly as it came.

"I don't know, maybe just because the hospital is treating me the same way."

"Yeah, maybe. Well, goodnight Bambi."

"Awesome! Die Hard 3 is staring!" Elliot said as he put the phone down.

"Nice!" he agreed.

"Frick, I really wanna watch this…but it'll probably finish too late." Elliot said with forced sadness.

J.D. caught the hint.

"You can crash here if you want." he offered.

A huge smile appeared on her face, and she kissed him on the cheek.

"Thanks, J.D."

They watched the first hour of the movie, and the next thing J.D. remembered was waking up on his couch the next morning.

**Must have fell asleep. Aw, man! I didn't even get to hear him say 'Yippie Ki-Yay, Mother--'**

J.D. forgot all about John McClane when he realised Elliot was still asleep….on top of him. He was stretched out on his back and she was lying on top of him. She had her arms wrapped around his waist, her head lay on his chest and their feet were entwined. J.D. also noticed that his arm had decided to rest on her butt sometime during the night. It was how he used to wake up when they were dating, and how he had been wanting to wake up for the past week.

He froze, not knowing what to do. He stayed like that for what seemed like hours (in reality it was about two minutes) until she finally started to wake up. He would've laughed at how cute she looked, not knowing where she was for a few seconds, but her eyes eventually found their way to his.

"Hey." Elliot said, with a weird mixture of surprise, embarrassment and awkwardness.

"Morning" J.D. answered.

Elliot opened her mouth as if to say something but shut it again. Her eyes started to look anywhere but at him.

**Oh god, could this silence be anymore uncomfortable? Say something! Now!**

"Been a long time since we woke up like this, huh?"

Elliot's gaze snapped back to J.D. and she had a look of shock upon her face.

"That came out wrong. What I mean to say was…"

"What time is it?" Elliot interrupted, not wanting to have that conversation.

J.D. looked at his watch.

"Oh, crap! We're gonna be late for work."

* * *

Elliot and J.D.'s drive to work was silent. Once inside Sacred Heart, they both mumbled goodbye and quickly parted ways. 

J.D. quickly made his way up to the ICU where he found Turk.

"Hey." Turk greeted. "Where's Elliot? Carla said she was crashing at your place."

"She went….somewhere. Anyway, do we have a donor for Mr Ockswell yet?"

"Possibly, Dr Cox was talking about something before--"

Before Turk could finish, a familiar voice interrupted them.

"I knew you were a thief and a liar, but to steal a guy's girlfriend? That's a new low for you, my friend."

J.D. let out a frustrated sigh.

"Janitor." he said through gritted teeth.

He spun around to see the custodian mopping the floor.

"Don't you even feel a little bit guilty?" Janitor asked him.

"For your information--" J.D. started, but he was cut off.

"Nah, of course you don't. Because you're a heartless bastard. Why would you care about picking up a girl the night she breaks up with her boyfriend when you don't even feel guilty about _putting pennies in doors_."

"Oh my God, are you still pissed about that?"

" Do you know how long it took me to get the penny out of that door?" Janitor asked.

"Look, Lurch, I don't have time for this. C'mon Turk."

"Hey, don't walk away from me!" Janitor called, but J.D. kept walking.

* * *

At lunch, J.D. walked into the cafeteria to see Elliot eating alone. 

"Hey, Elliot." he said, sitting down next to her.

Elliot nearly choked on her drink. She followed that with a long coughing fit.

"H-hey, bud-buddy. W-what's up?"

"Look, Ell." J.D. started.

"Ell?" Elliot asked, never having anyone call her that before.

"Yeah, I'm trying it out. Anyway, I know this morning was a little uncomfortable. But let's move on from it, okay?"

Elliot seemed to think about it for a second, then she nodded.

"Yeah. It really wasn't that big of a deal. Really, we had it coming. With me and you sleeping on the same couch, what did we expect?"

J.D. was about to ask what she meant by that but she didn't let him.

"We okay?" she asked.

"Yeah."

Elliot let out a sigh of relief and went back to her meal.

"So, 'Ell'?" she said after a while.

"You've seriously never heard that before?"

"No."

"Well, I just realised I don't really have a nickname for you." J.D. said, taking some fries from her plate. He also took a pen out of his pocket and started doodling on a napkin.

"Well, it's a lot better than Smelliot."

"Ah, 'Smelliot'! I forgot about that one."

"Oh, God. Don't start calling me that again."

"Why, that's an awesome nickname."

**It's times like these that I forget all about the fact that I'm in love with a girl who just wants to be my friend; and just enjoy Elliot's company.**

"How would you feel if you had a nickname like that? If someone was always cal….." Elliot trailed off as she caught sight of J.D.'s drawings.

"J.D.?" she asked and J.D. noticed how the tone of her voice had changed.

"Yeah?" he answered, looking up at her from his napkin.

"Why are you 'E.R.' like a hundred times on that napkin?"

J.D.'s eyes shot down to his drawings and his eyes went wide. He hadn't even realised that he had been writing Elliot's initials over and over again while talking to her.

**Oh god! Think, think!**

He looked up at Elliot's curious expression, searching his brain for an explanation.

"I, er, I was just……um……I'm just really excited about the new episode of E.R. tonight!"

**I'm a genius. Wait, why does she look so excited?**

"Oh my god, J.D.!" she said, bouncing up and down slightly. "You watch E.R. too?! I never knew that! What do you think's gonna happen tonight?"

**Okay, you've never watched an episode of E.R. in your life. But you know it's about hospitals. Just say something really vague.**

"I-I don't know, but I hope the doctors save that patients life."

"Oh, me too. Me too." she agreed, staring off into space for a second.

**THAT was a close one.**

She looked like she wanted to talk more about the show, but they were interrupted.

"BARBIE!"

J.D. turned to see Dr Cox charging towards them.

**Saved by my mentor.**

"Oh, crap." Elliot muttered.

"What?" J.D. asked her.

"He's been all over me lately."

"Do know what time it is?" Cox asked her when he reached their table. He was talking so loud that the whole cafeteria was looking at them.

"Um, l-lunch?" Elliot said meekly.

"Exactly. And do you know what I'm usually doing at lunch?"

"Eating?"

"Correct!" Cox exclaimed, showing fake happiness. "But here's the biggest question. Do you not why I am currently not eating, Barbie?"

Elliot seemed to have lost her voice because she didn't answer, just shook her head.

"It's because your patient, Mr Dudley, decided that he was too cool for oxygen. So, instead of me sitting directly in your place eating whatever crap this hell hole is serving today, I was trying to resuscitate _your_ patient."

If looks could kill, Elliot would have been long gone because Dr Cox was staring at her as if she'd murdered a member of his family.

"Oh, God. Is he okay?" Elliot asked.

"He's fine. But here's the inside scoop on being a doctor. Occasionally, you have to look after you patients. So why don't you get up of your ass and go do your job?!"

Elliot left the cafeteria looking more embarrassed than J.D. had ever seen her. Cox's eyes followed her as she left.

"What's the matter with you?" J.D. asked, only to have the furious gaze now directed at him.

**Mistake.**

Cox put two hands on the table and leaned into J.D.

"I'm sorry, Newbie." he growled, low enough just so J.D. could hear him. It was as terrifying as he had ever seen Dr Cox. "Did you have a problem with what just happened."

"No, sir." J.D. answered, swallowing hard.

"Bet your ass you didn't."

With that, Dr Cox stormed out of the cafeteria.

* * *

J.D. didn't have a lot to do at the hospital that day, with patients switching off his service; he only had three left. 

Having checked on all of them three times in the last hour, he currently sat on the counter of the nurse's station.

"What's up, Bambi?"

"Carla!" J.D. said, jumping off the counter as he saw her come round the corner. "I thought that you were off today."

"I am, but I got bored so I thought I'd bring Izzie in to see everyone." She said, and J.D. finally noticed the little baby in her arms.

"Hey, Mocha-Cub." he said.

"Have you seen Turk, because I tried to call him before but I couldn't reach hi…." Carla trailed off when she realised that J.D. was clearly not listening; instead making faces at the baby she was holding.

Isabella laughed at the ridiculous faces J.D. was pulling and reached out to him.

"J.D.?" Carla said, bringing J.D.'s attention back to her.

"Yes?"

"Will you watch Izzie while I go find Turk?" she asked.

"Of course."

To Isabella's delight, J.D. took hold of her as Carla went to find her husband.

J.D. spent the next few minutes throwing Izzie up her and catching her and pretending to steal her nose.

"You stealing babies as well as girlfriends now, Scooter?" said the Janitor as he passed.

"Keep moving, Jumpsuit, you're evilness is scaring the child." J.D. shot back.

"I haven't forgotten about you walking away from me, y'know!"

"Not listening!" J.D. called as he took Izzie away from the demon that is the Janitor.

"Y'know, Izzie," J.D. said to the baby as they walked through the halls. "I'm going to be your godfather when you're eventually christened."

He found himself at the staff lounge, where he saw his favourite blonde sitting at the table looking over a chart.

"And it's a pretty safe bet that _this_ is going to be your godmother."

Elliot looked up at his voice, and her voice broke into a smile.

"Hey, Isabella." she said, standing up to get a better look at the baby.

"What is she doing here?"

"Carla's looking for Turk so she asked me to watch her."

"Can I hold her?"

"Sure." He said, handing the infant over to her.

With Elliot holding the baby, J.D. got a better look at her face and saw her eyes were red.

"Elliot, have you been crying?" J.D. asked, his voice laced with concern.

"What? Oh, yeah. It's nothing." Elliot said, shrugging it off. "It's just Cox again. He's pissed for some reason and has decided to take it out on me."

"Look, Ellliot--"

"She looks exactly like Carla, doesn't she?" Elliot cut him off, trying to put the attention back on Izzie.

When J.D. didn't answer she brought her gaze back up to him. Her eyes told J.D. to drop the subject; so he did.

"Yeah, she does."

"My mom gave me the monthly 'the time to pop one out is running out' phone call the other day. I didn't even dare tell her I broke up with Keith."

J.D. laughed slightly.

**Elliot's mom is insane.**

"What were you saying about a godmother?" Elliot asked.

"Oh, come on! If we're not godparents, I'll streak naked through these halls."

"See, now you're making me not want us to be godparents, just to see that."

"Did you hear that, Isabella? She said she didn't want to be your godmother."

"No, Izzie, that's not what I meant."

"That's exactly what you meant……Smelliot." J.D. teased

"J.D. what did I tell you about calling me that." Elliot whined, but she was smiling at the same time.

"Do it?" J.D. said, and got a punch on the shoulder because of it.

For the next few minutes all that could be heard was Isabella's laughter as Elliot and J.D. each tried to pull the funniest face.

"Well," J.D. finally said. "I better take her back to Carla."

Elliot passed Izzie to him, being extra careful given her reputation as a dropper.

"Bye, Izzie." Elliot said, giving her a kiss while she was in J.D.'s arms.

At the sight in front of him, Elliot, himself and a baby, J.D. felt a funny feeling spread through him, one he couldn't quite name. Unlike anything he had ever felt; it was slightly scary, but he felt himself smiling at the same time.

"What?" Elliot asked, seeing the weird grin on face.

"Nothing." he answered, and tried to shake the feeling off.

"You want me to talk to Cox for you?" he said.

"Nah. I just wish I knew why he was so pissed."

* * *

I'm going to have a heart attack.

Dr Cox stalked through the halls of Sacred Heart. Anyone who caught a glance of the pure rage in his eyes quickly got out of his way.

That is, if I don't calm myself down. Honestly, I can't even remember why I'm so pissed. Oh, wait…it's coming back to me.

_A few weeks ago…_

_Dr Cox enters his apartment after a gruelling day. Jordan is sitting on the couch reading a magazine._

"_Hey." she says without looking up. "How was work. Anything interesting happen?"_

"_Not really." Perry answers, talking off his jacket and hanging it up._

"_Really?" Jordan says with her gaze still on the article she's reading. "Seems like there's always something going down at that place."_

"_Well, actually, there is a rumour that Newbie and Barbie are back to having extremely pale, neurotic sex." _

_Dr Cox sat down next to his ex-wife._

"_Carla says it's just a rumour, though" he went on, oblivious to the fact that Jordan was barely listening. "Tell ya the truth, those too are as whiny, incompetent, annoying, and pathetic as each other. Part of me kind of hopes they can forget whatever happened between them in the past and just realise that they're perfect for one another."_

_Jordan's head snapped up from her magazine to her ex-husband._

"_What?" he asked at the sight of her jaw hanging open._

_Then his mind replayed his last two sentences. His eyes went wide._

Just thinking back to that made Cox's blood boil.

I've given my list of stuff that I care less about than Newbie and Barbie a million times. I REALLY don't care who those two girls are dating. I don't. Honestly. I really, really don't. I don't give a damn about anybody in this place. This is that stupid shrink screwing with my brain. Well, he may have broken Newbie, but he damn sure ain't gonna break me. I'd go and kick his ass right now if he hadn't put that restraining order on me. I guess what I did during our session was _technically_ assault. But, since I can't take it out on the wannabe doctor, I've decided to take it out on the next best thing. Newbie and Barbie. 

After all, that rumour about them is what set me off in the first place. Now Newbie, he craves my company, the girl, so I've been doing my best to stay away from him (with the exception of the insult in front of the nurses the other day). He doesn't seem too bothered, though. He seems preoccupied with something else. I may have to change my plan of attack. Barbie's different, she's not as scared of me as she used to be. Fortunately, given the mood I've been in lately, whenever something goes wrong she's around, I think her fear of me is returning. I don't think I've ever been so hard on someone, but she and Newbie deserve it.

Cox walked to the ICU to see one of his patients. When he reached the room, he saw Doug inside……with a body bag.

His patient was dead.

"What the hell?!" Cox said.

"Um…." was all Doug could say when he saw Dr Cox in the doorway, with a vein on his forehead that looked ready to explode.

"H-He coded." came a voice from behind Cox.

Elliot stood there, clearly petrified, but trying to steady her voice.

"I pronounced him. A half-hour ago." she said.

"Why wasn't I paged?" Cox growled.

Elliot closed her eyes when she realised it had slipped her mind, even though that had never happened in six years. She felt the panic rise up inside her; she didn't think she was going to be able to take this, not in front of the entire ICU.

"Barbie? Why-wasn't-I-paged?" Cox repeated, taking a step towards her.

With her eyes still closed, Elliot had no chance but to answer.

"I…forgot."

* * *

"Did you find him?" J.D. asked Carla at the hospital exit, handing Izzie back to her. 

"Oh, yeah. The genius had his cell turned off. Look, we gotta go so say goodbye to J.D., Izzie."

"Bye, little choco-cub!"

J.D. said goodbye to Carla and set off for the ICU to check on his three patients. A few feet away from the door he heard shouting. Thinking there was a code and he may be able to help, J.D. sped up. When he went inside, he saw a small crowd gathered around something.

"Of all the incompetent, unprofessional and downright retarded thing to do! Although, giving your history of screw ups in this place, I really shouldn't be surprised!!"

J.D. recognised the yells of Dr Cox. He pushed through the crowd and saw Cox standing in front of Elliot.

"Have you been like this your entire life? Or is forgetting procedures that should have become second nature to you six years ago and being a generally atrocious doctor just something that you've developed recently?"

Dr Cox was becoming more irate as he went on. Elliot looked like she was trying to take a step back, but her legs were too scared to move.

"I-I'm sorry. I was just--" she tried to explain but he cut her off.

"Just what, Barbie. You were just what?"

"Dr Cox, calm down." J.D. said. People standing around looked at him like he was crazy. He soon found out why.

Cox spun around to J.D. who gasped again at the utter rage in his eyes.

"I asked you earlier if you had a problem, Newbie. Have you changed your mind."

J.D.'s voice had deserted him, so Dr Cox just turned back to Elliot when he didn't answer.

"My patient dies; DIES, BARBIE, and you don't even inform me! You are, without a doubt, the most pathetic excuse for a doctor I have, or ever will, see!"

The members of hospital staff watching tried to hold back their laughter. In their minds, after what Elliot had supposedly done to Keith, she deserved every minute of this.

"May God have mercy on the poor bastards that have you as their doctor."

It was painful for J.D. to watch, and he wished that Carla was here to stop this, as clearly no one else was prepared to.

"I mean, good God, Barbie! I don't even want to think about what you had to do to your professors to get through Med school."

The uncalled for, hurtful insult was bad. The sound of the staff trying to desperately not to laugh at it was worse. But what really got to J.D. was the sight of Elliot standing there. Her head was hanging, her body was shaking, tears flowed down her face. She was completely humiliated.

J.D. had seen enough.

"It's not like you even tho--" Dr Cox started was interrupted.

"S'cuse me, Dr Cox?" he heard, and felt a tap on his shoulder from behind. He thought that the voice sounded like Newbie's; but the tone was unfamiliar.

He turned around. The next thing he saw was J.D.'s face, and then a fist hit him, hard, right between the eyes.

The was a collective gasp as Cox stumbled slightly.

If it was anyone else, Perry probably would have dived for them right there and then. But his rage……was gone. Replaced with disbelief.

J.D. was in front of him, holding his hand he's used for the punch, and breathing heavily.

"Don't ever talk to her like that again." he said.

With that, he took an astonished Elliot by the hand and led her out of the ICU, leaving behind a shell-shocked Dr Cox and about 10 shell-shocked doctors and nurses.

* * *

Hope you liked it. As usual, a HUGE thank you to those that reviewed last chapter. 


	6. My Hurting Hand

And I'm back, with chapter 6! This chapter had been written, deleted and then re-written about four times and I'm still not happy with the way it turned out so make sure you let me know what you think about it. Glad you all enjoyed the last chapter because I worked especially hard on it. Yes, the ending was inspired by the season 2 finale; I just thought it would be the right way to end the chapter. Here's the next one, enjoy!

* * *

After leaving the ICU, JD led Elliot to the nearest supply closet.

"Are you alright?" he asked her.

"Yeah." was all Elliot could say. She was still trying to determine whether or not she had dreamed what had just happened.

JD nodded and wiped the tears away that were still on her face.

"C'mon." he said, and started to lead her out of the closet, but she stayed in the same spot.

"JD wait."

"What?"

"Wha…..why…. you...Cox!" she said; or tried to say, at least. JD got the gist.

"I was not going to just stand there and let him talk to you like that. It's not right. You didn't deserve any of that."

Again, Elliot was left speechless. She knew JD was a good guy and was her friend and had been there for her throughout the whole Keith thing; but she _never_ thought he would punch out Dr Cox for her.

Seeing that she wasn't going to say anything else, JD took her hand and started to lead her out again.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"I'm taking you home."

When they arrived at Elliot's place, JD took her to the door.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked again.

"Yeah, thanks to you."

"I already told you it was noth--" he stopped when he felt her hand cup his face.

"You are the best friend I have ever had and the greatest guy I'll ever know. You stood up for me when no one else would. You punched the scariest man on the planet for me. Thank you." she said, and placed a kiss on his cheek, lingering a little longer than usual.

**Okay, Dorian, it's a kiss on the cheek. Women have given you these a million times. Just cause you're in love with this one does not make it any different. Focus all energy on NOT BLUSHING.**

He failed, but she didn't notice.

"Goodnight." she said, opening her door.

"Goodnight, Elliot."

She shot him one last smile before shutting the door. JD found himself wearing a goofy grin that he had come to call his 'Elliot smile'. He walked down the street away from her house and reflected on the night's events.

**I don't like how surprised she was that I stood up for her. I thought she knew how much she meant to me. Well, actually I hope she doesn't know how much she _really_ means to me, I'm not ready for her to know that. Still, after six years and all we've been through, of course I would defend her.**

**Ouch. My hand hurts. Why is that again…? Oh, that's right. I punched Dr Cox. **

…

…

…

**I DID WHAT??!!! HOLY CRAP!!! I PUNCHED DR COX!!! IN THE FACE!!! I'M A DEADMAN!!!**

JD raced to his apartment, and locked the door. He had 4 messages on his machine. He pushed the button, sat on the couch and tried to calm himself.

"Message 1" said the mechanical voice.

"Dude!" Turks voice said on the first message. He was laughing. "You won't believe what Laverne and the other nurses are spreading now. As if you hooking up with Elliot isn't enough, now they're saying that you hit Cox in the face! Can you believe that?" he broke off laughing and the message ended.

"Message 2"

"Okay, man, now _reliable_ witnesses are saying they saw you smack Cox." Turks voice was much different on the second message, he sounded worried. "I don't know what to believe, buddy. Call me."

**Great. Why couldn't it have been someone else torturing Elliot; like Ted. See, people hit Ted all the time (I saw Kelso do it twice just this morning!). There wouldn't have been any repercussions. Oh my God! Why did I do that?! Why?!**

"Message 3"

"Hey, JD, it's Elliot."

**Because I'm in love with her, that's why. This girl is going to get me killed.**

"Look," Elliot's message continued. "I just…found that I couldn't go to bed without calling you to say thank you; again. I guess you're not even home yet. Well…um…thank you…again. Goodnight, JD"

**Don't get me wrong, when Elliot wants to screech, her voice makes your spine hurt. But most of the time, Elliot's voice is so soothing to me. I feel calmer already.**

JD laid back on the couch, feeling so much more relaxed.

"Message 4."

"Okay, man. It's become very apparent that you _did _whack Cox." Turk's voice was now frantic. "I think it's just hit him what happened. And he - is - PISSED! He wants your blood, man. I've never seen him like this. Listen, get out of your apartment. Repeat, evacuate your apartment."

"You have no more messages."

Silence.

JD let the words sink in. He heard them again in his head; 'He wants your blood', 'evacuate your apartment'.

……………**..HE'S COMING FOR ME!!!**

JD sprung off the couch, bolted out the door and down the stairs. His scooter was still at the hospital; he had walked Elliot to her house and then to his place.

There was nothing else for it. JD started running as fast as he could.

**I can't go to Elliot's, he'll probably go right there after he finds my apartment empty. Turk's is his third stop. Where would he never EVER think to look?**

"How did you get this address?" said the Janitor from his doorway.

JD stood on the front lawn of his house.

**I checked the hospital records in case I ever wanted to file a lawsuit.**

"It doesn't matter. What really matters is…" JD stopped when he got a real look at the size of Janitor's house.

"How can you afford this house on a janitor's salary? I couldn't even afford this!" JD wondered aloud.

"Number 1: How do you know that Sacred Heart is my only job. Number 2: Are you sure this is my house?" Janitor said.

JD considered those questions before realising that he didn't have time for it.

"Look, I know we've had are problems but I need a place to hide."

"What'd ya do? Kill somebody?" Janitor inquired.

"Worse." JD said darkly. "I'll explain later. Please! No one will ever look for me here. Can't you put our squabbles aside and help me in this, my hour of most desperate need?"

His over-dramatic plea seemed to have stuck a cord, because the Janitor opened the door fully and stepped aside.

"Enter, my friend." he said to the young doctor. "You will be safe here."

JD grinned in success and made a move forward, even stepping one foot inside the house. Then the door swung forwards, striking JD in the process and knocking him backwards, onto the grass.

"Yeah…maybe now you won't walk away from me when I'm talking to you. And get off my lawn or I call the cops." Janitor said, and closed the door.

After a few minutes of seeing stars, JD rose to his feet and tried to think of another place to hide.

Then it hit him. Turk's apartment wasn't just _Turk_'s apartment. It was also the home of the one person Dr Cox feared.

"Bambi, why didn't you come straight here? Where did you go?" Carla asked when JD finally arrived at the apartment.

"Don't ask." he answered as he sat down on the old couch. "Turk home?"

"No. He's off in an hour." Carla said, sitting next to him. "What happened, Bambi. You go from worshiping the floor Dr Cox walks on to knocking him out?"

"I didn't knock him out. He _barely _even stumbled."

"Yeah, but still. I can't believe you hit him."

"You weren't there." JD snapped. "You didn't see it. He just kept yelling at her. And the nurses were laughing their asses off. She started crying. She was humiliated I was not going to just stand there and watch him--"

"Bambi! I get it!" Carla suddenly said, grabbing hold of his arm. Only then did he realise he was gripping the couch arm as tightly as he could.

"Sorry." JD said, and let go of couch arm. "Look, he's going to hunt me down. You have to help me."

"Oh, I don't think he's going to make it to you. Elliot is my best friend, too. I might just thump him myself for treating her like that."

JD could relax, Carla was his bodyguard. Now, the waiting game. Dr Cox would eventually come here looking for JD, it was only a matter of time.

The young doctor stayed on the couch with Carla for a few hours, until she went to bed. Scared that if he did the same, Cox might suffocate him with his own pillow while he was asleep, he stayed on the couch. He stared at the door to the apartment, expecting his mentor to burst through at any moment, before finally falling asleep.

When Carla and JD entered Sacred Heart the next morning, JD had the jacket of his hood over most of his face and was wearing sunglasses.

"Bambi, people can still tell it's you."

"That's just because you saw me put the disguise on. To everyone else, I'm a completely different person."

"What's up, JD?" the Todd said as he walked past the two of them.

**Damn!**

"Look, JD, I will go and find Dr Cox straight away and give him a piece of my mind." Carla told him. "By the time you see him, he'll be completely focused on my lecture and probably won't even remember you hitting him at all."

JD found that very hard to believe but didn't have a lot of options considering the fact that he worked in the same building as Dr Cox.

Carla and JD parted ways, and JD made his way to his locker.

**Still, the hospital is a big place. Maybe I will go the whole day without seeing Dr Cox.**

"Newbie." said Dr Cox from behind him

**AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!**

JD broke out into a run. He could hear Dr Cox running after him and prayed for a miracle. It never came. A hand grabbed his jacket and shoved him into an empty hospital room.

**That was stupid; I should have stayed in the halls where there were witnesses.**

Dr Cox shut the door and turned to JD. He had a slight mark on his face where JD's fist had connected. JD prepared himself for the inevitable.

**Here it comes. Be a man, Dorian! Be a man! **

"Kelly, stop shaking! I'm not gonna hit you." Cox said.

**What?!**

That's when JD really looked at Dr Cox and saw that he didn't look all that angry.

**He looks weirdly uncomfortable. I've seen this facial expression before. He uses it when he has to…apologise?**

"Don't get me wrong." Cox said, putting his hands in the pockets of his white coat. "Last night I was ready to murder you with my bear hands. Tear you apart and leave your teeth as the only way they could identify the body."

JD swallowed and took a step back.

"Then, I had a chance to think. And I came to the conclusion that…I was a jackass yesterday. I was pissed about something else and decided to take it out on Barbie. I was completely out of line. Tell the truth, I was acting like Kelso; and I always said that if I ever ended up like him, someone was free to knock me out. But, as you couldn't do that with you're girlish hands--"

"Hey, you stumbled!" JD blurted out, and immediately regretted it by the warning look on his mentor's face.

"What I'm trying to say," Cox went on. "Is that I would have done the same thing, yesterday. Plus, you kind of owed me a shot in the face since I knocked you out after your Dad died. Bottom line: I forgive you. You are officially forgiven."

JD nodded, having nothing else to say.

"Now get back to work. And if anyone asks, you begged for mercy and I took pity on you because your such a girl."

On that note, Cox turned and left the room.

**Guess I got a miracle after all!**

* * *

Later that day, Dr Cox was at the nurses station filling out a chart when he heard Carla's voice.

"There you are!"

He turned and saw her walking towards him, furious.

"How dare you--" she started.

"--treat Barbie like that." Cox finished for her

Carla looked a little caught off guard but shrugged it off.

"Yes. Humiliating her like that in front of the hospital. And you know about--"

"--the abuse she's been taking because of the whole Keith/Newbie thing." Cox cut her off again.

Carla chose to ignore it again.

"Exactly. How many times have I told you about taking--" she tried, but Cox just finished for her once again.

"--my problems out on the people around me. And don't I even think of touching Newbie for what he did!"

"STOP THAT!" Carla screeched.

"Look, I know being the mother figure around here is like crack to you, but I already know what I did was wrong. I have cleared things up with Charlotte and I will apologise to Barbie the next time I see her." Dr Cox said, and went back to his chart.

Carla looked like Christmas had been cancelled. She was prepared to give Cox a piece of her mind, now it was all going to be wasted.

"If you're so messed up that you need to tear into _someone_," Dr Cox said without looking up. "then you might want to ask the other bystanders why they did nothing and left Newbie to be the one who took a stand."

"Thank you." Carla mumbled as a reply, and marched off to the nurses station.

* * *

**This is officially the weirdest day EVER.**

**First, Dr Cox completely shrugs off the fact that I socked him. Now, even though hitting my mentor because he was humiliating Elliot could only strengthen rumours about us, not one nurse or doctor has questioned me about it. For the past week, I've been constantly bombarded with questions, accusations and insults regarding me supposedly stealing Elliot from Keith. **

**Today, nothing. Zilch. Not one snide comment. What the hell? They should be having a field day. Maybe this is just my lucky day.**

* * *

Elliot read through the note again, completely astonished. She felt tears on their way; she could not cry in the middle of the hall two days running. She started walking as fast as she could, not really knowing where. After a while, she decided that she needed to talk to someone and headed for the nurse's station. Carla was there.

"Hey, Elliot." she said. "I heard about last night. You okay?"

"Yeah." Elliot answered. "Well, I'm okay about that, anyway. Listen…" she started, but couldn't finish. For some reason, Elliot just didn't want to tell Carla about the note. She found that she only wanted to talk to one person.

"Have you seen JD?" she asked Carla.

"Yeah," Carla answered. "He's behind you."

Elliot turned and, sure enough, there was JD coming out of a patients room. Without another word to Carla, she walked right over to him.

"Hey." he greeted when he saw her.

"I need… to talk to you."

Elliot had come so close to saying "I need you", but stopped herself before she did.

JD's expression turned from friendly to concerned immediately.

"Supply closet?" he suggested and she nodded.

"What's up?" he asked when they got there.

"Keith…left." she replied.

"Left?" JD repeated, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Transferred to another hospital. He left a note saying it was too hard to be around me; that he needed a fresh start. He said that he'd never been so hurt in his life." she choked up as she said that last part.

"JD," she whispered, emotions starting to get the better of her. "I didn't want to do this to him. Just because he wasn't the one doesn't mean I didn't care about him. And he had to move because of me; because of what I did to him!"

Her tears that had been threatening to fall for the past ten minutes now started to flow freely.

"Hey," JD said sternly. "We've been over this already, it would have been a million times worse if you'd had kept that relationship going."

"JD, you don't understand." she said, raising her voice. "I screwed this guys life up completely, he had to leave everyone he knows here because of me."

JD stayed silent, knowing that she wasn't really mad at him; just letting out her anger.

"And now I'm shouting at you! The only person in this place that _does_ understand me."

"Look, I know things seem rough at the minute, but your gonna get through this. Maybe a fresh start was for the best, for both of you. You just have to put this all behind you, now. Stop beating yourself up." He placed a comforting hand on her arm.

"Your right." she said after a while, although she was still crying which meant that she still felt guilty. "Thanks, JD." Then she wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her head in his chest.

JD was surprised by this and his hands remained frozen for a second before he put them around her.

**God, she smells amazing. Oh, for the love of God! She's hurting here and that's all you can think about? You are a sick man!**

"You've been the best friend ever lately." she mumbled into his now tear-stained chest.

The word "friend" cut through JD like a knife once again.

"That's what I'm here for, right?" he said, with a hint of sadness in his voice that Elliot didn't pick up on.

Carla was looking for Elliot just to make sure she was alright. As she walked past a supply closet, she saw something out of the corner of her eye. She looked through the small window and saw JD holding a crying Elliot. JD looked as though his heart was breaking and she knew why. This was as close as JD could get to the woman he loved.

"Poor Bambi." she muttered and walked away, leaving the two in private.

* * *

The next month was one of the worst of JD's life and, at the same time, the best.

**How is this possible? Two words; Elliot Reid.**

On the one hand, with everything they had been through lately, he and Elliot had never been closer. One was not seen without the other. A hospital worker had even referred to them as "the new JD and Turk" (JD would never forget the look Turk's face).

Every night was spent with her in one of their apartments. They had developed something of routine. Once both of their shifts had ended, they would order take out for dinner, watch a movie at either of their apartments and, when the movie had finished, they would turn the TV off and sit on the couch, with all the lights off and talk. What they talked about depended on whether something particularly eventful had happened that day. If not, then they would just talk about whatever came into their heads; family, people from the hospital or just anything they didn't know about each other.

Any time JD wasn't with Elliot during his free time, he was with her at the hospital. They even had what they referred to as 'our shift' which was a night when nearly all of their friends at the hospital were off, leaving just the two of them. It was usually a slow night, with very little for them to do. So they mostly passed the time by trying to find places in Sacred Heart that they had never been before or inventing games to be played within the hospital.

The hospital staff had also completely laid off of them. He later learned that Carla, unable to take out the fury she had for Dr Cox's treatment of Elliot on him had unleashed it instead on any staff giving JD or Elliot a hard time. They still got the odd comment from a passing nurse, but most were too terrified of Carla to say anything.

On the other hand, constantly being with Elliot was hell for JD. It seemed that being closer than ever to Elliot meant that she was more comfortable around him. Because of this, she was always touching him in some way. She would link his arm whenever they walked somewhere together, she would request that he put his arm around her when she was cold and she would rest her head on his shoulder when they watched a movie together. It took every ounce of self-control JD had in his body not to turn her head and kiss her. He didn't think he would be able to take much more of it. Not to mention that, since she was spending so much time there, everything in his apartment now smelled exactly like her.

**This is what it comes down to: I hate being around Elliot and having all these urges that I can't do anything about; but I love spending so much time with her. I think she's done it; I think she's finally driven me insane.**

JD thought about this as he leaned against the counter on the nurse's station. Elliot was sitting on the counter (arm linked with JD's) talking to Carla who was standing in front of them.

"Anyway," Elliot suddenly said, jumping off the counter. "I gotta get back to work."

"See you tonight." she added to JD, playfully slapping his arm before walking off down the hall.

"Yeah." he replied, grinning..

A few seconds after she was out of sight, his smile fell……he missed her already.

JD let out a frustrated sigh (he'd been doing that a lot lately) and turned round to rest his head on the counter. Carla patted his back reassuringly as she went behind the counter.

"You okay, Bambi?" she asked with a sympathetic smile.

"Part of me hates her for doing this to me." he said, raising his head to look at her.

"JD, you've been like this for over a month. If your not going to do anything about it, you have to move on."

"What have I been trying to do for the past six years, Carla?"

"I know but I hate seeing you like this. Look, remember my friend I introduced you to the other day? Well, she single and she said you were cute; I just thought--"

"Thanks but no thanks, Carla." JD said, dismissing Carla suggestion immediately.

"Bambi"--

"Anyway," JD cut her off again. "who says I'm not going to do anything about it?"

"Are you?" Carla asked.

"…………no." JD answered dejectedly. "If I make a move, she freaks out, and I could lose her forever. I won't take that chance, I won't"

"Okay." Carla said and dropped the subject.

JD left the nurses station and started walking down the halls.

**I can't believe Carla wanted to set me up with some girl. Right now, it doesn't feel like I'll ever move on from Elliot. But even if I was ready, it wouldn't be with a random woman; it would be someone I was comfortable with. Someone who I at least knew.**

JD's thoughts were interrupted when he knocked into someone walking the opposite way.

"Sorry." he apologised; then he saw the woman who he had knocked into.

"JD!" she said. "Hi."

He looked at the familiar face in front of him. Apart from the fact that her chestnut hair was a little shorter, she hadn't changed at all; as beautiful as she was a year ago when he broke up with her.

"Hi, Julie." he replied with a smile.

* * *


	7. My Ex

Readers, I'm not going to lie to you.

Introducing Julie at the end of the last chapter was done completely impulsively. I was thinking of a way to end the chapter and that just popped into my head. It wasn't till I sat down to write this chapter that I realised: "OH CRAP! I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE TO GO FROM HERE!!" I have written, deleted and re-writen this chapter double the amount of times I re-wrote the last one. Finally, though, it's finished. So, Enjoy!

P.S. Elliot's thoughts are underlined.

Disclaimer: I own neither Scrubs nor Goodfellas.

* * *

"What are you doing here?" JD asked his ex-girlfriend. 

"I'm visiting a friend; she just had her appendix out. I figured I'd run into you here." she replied with a smile, which JD returned.

"You look fantastic." JD told her.

"You too." Julie responded. "Are you headed to a patients room?"

"No, actually, I just went on a break."

Julie's smile grew bigger and, five minutes later, they were having coffee in the Sacred Heart cafeteria.

"So did you read the last Harry Potter book?" Julie asked him.

"Yeah, it was great. Some of it did seem to drag on, though. Especially--"

"The part where they're camping in the tents?" Julie finished for him.

"Yeah!"

**It's weird, when you run into someone you used to date but haven't seen since it can be a little uncomfortable. But there hasn't been any of that with Julie. **

"Don't you think she picked the wrong title?" Julie asked him.

"Deathly Hallows?"

"Yeah, it didn't have much significance to the story. 'Harry Potter and the Elder Wand' would have been a better title."

"Or 'Harry Potter and the Extremely Long Camping Trip'" JD joked and they both laughed.

"Damn!" JD said, looking at his watch when the laughter had died down. "I gotta get back to work."

"That's sucks… but, look, I'm not doing anything tomorrow night if you wanna maybe get a drink or something?" Julie asked while keeping her eyes on the mug of coffee in front of her.

JD hesitated. Part of him wanted to say yes, but another wanted to say no.

**Here are you options, Dorian. You can either go out and have fun with a cool girl, or you could stay in this place, with a girl you love but can't touch, and go insane.**

"Yeah, Julie. That would be awesome." JD answered, standing up from his seat.

"Great!" Julie said, pushing her chair back so she could stand up. Unfortunately, she pushed it a little to hard and the chair fell backwards, with her on it.

JD winced as he watched her fall.

**She's still a little clumsy then.**

"You okay?" he asked, leaning over the table to see her on the floor.

"Yeah, never better." she answered, giving him a thumbs up.

_

* * *

A few hours later…_

I'm having _such_ a good day. 

Elliot thought this as she came out of a patient's room, having informed him that his test results had come back and he didn't have cancer as they had previously suspected.

Y'know what? I've had a really good month. Not that it wouldn't seem great compared to last month, but still. JD was right, Keith moving away was for the best. Having to see him every day would be extremely uncomfortable. That's what happens when two people have a bad break up.

Well, except for me and JD; but that's different. Speaking of Dr Dorian, he has been amazing these past couple of weeks. Every time I was feeling down about things, he would just pop up out of nowhere and cheer me up. Our movie nights every day of the week are great, as are the long talks we usually have afterwards. Our shift in the hospital, when it's just the two of us working, is so much fun. I cannot wait for it tomorrow night.

We've never been closer. He is _such_ a good boyfriend. FRIEND! I meant friend. He's such a good _friend._ I don't know why I said that.

Elliot shook her head at her mistake, blew her hair away from her eyes and made her way to the women's changing rooms, that having been her final patient of the day.

Meanwhile, JD getting ready to go home too, but stopped by the nurse's station first. There he found Turk.

"Hey," Turk greeted. "I just saw you changed your shift, meaning you're off tomorrow. I say you come over to my place and we have a 'Cheers' marathon!"

"Can't" JD said.

"Why?" Turk snapped, as if this was just what he was expecting.

"I, er, kinda saw Julie today. She asked me if I wanted to get a drink tomorrow and I… said yes."

"Julie: your ex-girlfriend?" Turk asked. Clearly this was not the explanation he was expecting.

"Yeah."

"Oh. So, you two dating again?"

"No, man. It's just a drink, to catch up." JD explained.

"Whatever, man." Turk replied, not believing JD. "Well, you're off now and I'll be off in about an hour. Let's hang out!"

"Can't" JD shot Turk down again. "Elliot told me she had never seen 'Goodfellas'. So, we're going to rent it tonight."

"Elliot watching a gangster movie?" Turk asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. I told her it's about three guys who meet and form a barber shop quartet. I'm gonna see how long we get into the movie before she realises!" JD said, giggling like a little child. Turk, however, wasn't laughing.

"Dude, what the hell? We haven't hung out since Izzie was born. And every time there's a chance, you're doing something with Elliot. Why are you spending so much time with her lately."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you and Elliot being joined at the hip."

"Is this because of the 'JD and Elliot are the new JD and Turk' thing?" JD asked.

"Yeah, it is!" Turk half-yelled.

"Alright, calm down, dude. Look, we'll do something on Monday night, okay?"

Turk still looked a little upset.

"Yeah, we'll hang out on Monday, but then we won't hang out for another three months." he said.

"No, I swear. We'll start hanging out more often. I promise." JD said.

This seemed to satisfy Turk. But, he still felt the need to say: "I just…miss you, V-bear!" Turk said.

JD put his hand on Turk's shoulder.

"I miss you too, Chocolate Bear."

Turk smiled and put his own hand on JD's shoulder. For a second they just looked at each other.

"Dude, I just realised how girlie this moment is." JD said suddenly.

"Yeah, me too!" Turk said snatching his arm away quickly and JD did the same.

"So….see ya!" JD awkwardly said.

"Later!" Turk replied, and they both walked off briskly in opposite directions.

JD rounded a corner to find Carla standing in front of him, a bemused expression on her face.

"Hello, Bambi. Word on the street is: you have a date tomorrow night!" she said to him.

"How the…?"

"Laverne." Carla answered simply.

**Damn Laverne! I didn't even see her in the cafeteria! Well, at least not when I walked in, after that I was concentrating on Julie. Maybe she has a sixth sense about when something juicy is happening, and it alerted her to the fact that I was having coffee with my ex-girlfriend. Like Spider-Sense. OF COURSE! How did I go six years without realising this?! Well, I also went six year without realising I was in love with Elliot, so I guess it's not so weird. I wonder if there's anything else I haven't noticed round he--**

"JD!" Carla yelled, bringing JD back to earth.

"Oh. Right. Look, it's not a date. I am just catching up with a friend who I haven't seen for a long time by getting a drink with her."

"Riiight." Carla said, as sceptically as her husband. "And I suppose Julie felt the same way when she accepted your invitation?"

"Actually, she asked me to get a drink with _her._" JD clarified.

"Whoa." Carla's expression turned serious. "_She_ asked _you_? Well, how do you know she doesn't think it's a date?"

JD started to answer, but then remembered how Julie kept her gaze anywhere but at him when she asked him.

"She _might_ think it's a date." he admitted. "But…it's…all I wanted was…God damn it! Why has my life been so complicated lately?"

"All this Elliot stuff aside," Carla said. "if Julie thinks your on a date and you don't tell her otherwise, she's just going to end up getting hurt."

"So what do I do?" he asked.

"I'm not going to tell you what to do, but I will tell you what I would do. I would cancel it."

JD thought about Carla's advice all the way home. When his head started to hurt, he decided he would sleep on it tonight and make a decision tomorrow. He wasn't home long before there was a knock on his door.

"Hey!" he said to Elliot when he opened the door to her.

**Wow, she looks great. I mean, she's just dressed normally but…wow!**

"Hey yourself." Elliot replied returning his grin. "I had a bit of trouble at Blockbuster. Some kids must have took it from the musicals section and put in the action section as a joke." she held up the rented DVD of Goodfellas.

"Oh…yeah…damn kids!" JD said, trying to fight his urge to laugh.

"So," Elliot said as she sat on the couch and JD went to put in the DVD. "How was you're day?"

"I actually ran into Julie today." JD told her. By the look on Elliot's face, she clearly had no clue who JD was talking about.

"Julie Quinn….?" Still nothing. "My ex-girlfriend?"

Realisation finally dawned on Elliot. Once she realised who JD had bumped into, she felt a strange feeling beginning to brew in the pit of her stomach.

"Oh," was all that she found she could say.

"Yeah, she was visiting a friend and we got coffee."

"It wasn't uncomfortable?" Elliot asked, remembering her earlier thought about meeting up with your ex.

"No, not all. In fact, we're going for a drink tomorrow night."

JD saw Elliot facial expression change at his words. It was a mixture of surprise and….

…**hurt?**

"You said you'd go out with her tomorrow? Tomorrow is our night at the hospital." she reminded him.

"I know, I switched shifts." JD said and, by the increase look of hurt on her face, instantly regretted it.

"Elliot, it's just for this week. I'll be there next week." JD told her, trying to placate her and also trying to figure out why she was getting upset. Unbeknownst to him, Elliot was trying to figure out the same thing.

Why am I so disappointed? It's just a shift at the hospital, right? And he just said he's gonna be there next week? Why do I care if he blew me off for Julie,

She then realised that JD was still looking at her.

"Y'know what? It's fine. I'm okay with it." she lied. "Let's just watch the movie."

JD did what she said, but wasn't sure she was really okay. Elliot didn't really watch the movie. Part of her was really annoyed with JD, the other part was trying to figure out why. She didn't even realise that the movie clearly was about a barber shop quartet. When the movie finished, Elliot didn't stay and talk like usual. Instead, she told JD she was tired and went home before he could say a word.

The next day, JD called Carla at the hospital and told her about the night before.

"She just got up and left?" Carla asked.

"After mumbling something about being tired, yeah." he replied. "I don't get it. All I did was switch shifts for one week. She knows how much I enjoy the night when it's just the two of us; well, I hope she doesn't know _how_ much I enjoy it." - Carla smiled slightly - "But what I mean is, what did I do wrong?"

"Bambi, from where I'm standing, what you did was no big deal. Let's not even mention the fact that you've spent most of the last month constantly in each other's company, I see no reason for her to be angry that you're doing something else for this one night. But then again, I can't really see things from Elliot's perspective; after all, she is crazy."

"Yeah…she is." JD said, feeling his goofy 'Elliot smile' creep onto his face.

"Bambi, you still there?" Carla asked when she heard nothing from his end of the line.

"Yeah." he responded. "Look, could you talk to her and maybe see if she'll tell you what's wrong?"

"I'll try. By the way, Bambi." Carla added. "Have you decided what you're going to do tonight?"

"Yes. I have decided that it's not my fault if Julie thinks it's a date. We don't even know for sure if she does. I'm gonna go."

JD heard Carla sigh on the other end.

"Same old JD. You know making the right decision would cause you more trouble, so you just pick the wrong one, pretend it's the right one, and hope for the best."

"What would you have me do, Carla. Cancel, and enjoy another night of torture at the hospital with Elliot? Well, I'm sorry but I'm not going to do that."

"And what happens after tonight JD?" Carla asked and JD got the feeling this was something she had been wanting to say for some time. "Are you just gonna keep running from Elliot forever, let this thing continue to eat you up inside?"

"What else can I do?" JD snapped.

"You can stop being scared of rejection and tell her how you feel." Carla shot back.

"Scared of rejection? You think that's why I haven't told her? If I tell her she could freak out and I lose my best frie--"

"Yeah, Yeah. 'She freaks out, you lose her'. I've heard it all before so why don't you save it and admit that your scared; admit how you really feel?!"

"That's how I really feel!" JD said defiantly.

"That's not a feeling, Bambi, it's an excuse." Carla exclaimed.

"What are you talking about?!" JD asked.

"You're scared and I'll prove it. Picture yourself telling her and getting rejected right now." Carla instructed him and JD complied.

_JD stands in front of Elliot looking right into her eyes._

"_I'm still in love with you." he tells her._

_Elliot looks shocked. Her look of shock then changes to one of pity._

"_JD, you're my best friend and I love you……just not in that way." she says to him._

Immediately, panic spread throughout every part of JD's body. The thought of it made his heart beat dangerously fast and he could hear how quick and sharp his breathing had become.

"Look, JD," Carla started after he was quite for a while, this time in a much more gentle tone of voice. "I agree that telling Elliot how you feel would be risking your friendship, but the main reason you're not doing anything is because you're scared and you can't be. Life is too short . If you really love her, you have to take a shot. I don't wanna watch you be like this for the rest of your life. What happens when Elliot meets someone new?"

"You don't think I've thought about that?" JD asked, suddenly feeling angry. "You don't think that I worry about it every day? And for the record, I am not afraid. The reason I haven't told Elliot how I feel is because it could end with me losing her, and I would rather be around her just as a friend than not around her at all."

Carla said nothing for a few seconds before sighing in defeat and muttering "Okay."

No one could slip into denial like John Dorian.

JD said goodbye and hung up the phone. Carla let out a groan of frustration.

"Stupid JD!." She said out loud.

"I know the feeling." a voice said from behind her. She turned and saw Elliot standing there, dressed in her normal clothes.

"Hey, I thought you weren't in till later." Carla said.

"I'm not, but I got bored sitting at home. So what did JD do to you?"

"Ugh. Just being an idiot." Carla told her, then remembered that she had promised she would talk to Elliot. " It seems like you're angry with him too?"

"That's most likely because I am!" Elliot snapped.

"Would you mind telling me why?" Carla asked.

Elliot sat down on a nearby chair.

"He blew me off to go out with Julie." Elliot said. Carla noticed how Elliot's tone had turned bitter when she uttered Julie's name.

"What do you mean 'blew you off'? You were both working tonight."

"Yeah but tonight is _our_ night at the hospital. It's like we're not even at work. Nothing much happens so we just goof around."

"Well, what does it matter if he misses one week. Your guys spend all your time together these days anyway."

"So? It doesn't give him the right to just go blow me off like he did."

"Why are you acting like he's your boyfriend or something?" Carla asked, genuinely confused.

Elliot opened her mouth to answer, but then stopped. She then opened her mouth to say something completely different.

"That's the second time I've done that. What's wrong with me?"

"What?" Carla asked. "Done what?"

"Well, yesterday I accidentally referred to JD as my boyfriend and today I'm sort of acting like he is." Elliot said in mystification.

Carla stayed silent for a second. A thought had popped into her head. It was the second time it had popped in there, the first being a few weeks ago, when she was on the phone to JD about how Elliot was spending so much time with him instead of her. That night she had brushed it off, but now that it had happened again she was curious.

"Elliot," she started, choosing her words carefully. "you don't…like…JD, do you?"

"What are you talking about? The guy's my best friend, of course I like him!" Elliot responded, looking at Carla like she was crazy.

"No, I mean do you _like _him." Carla clarified.

Elliot again looked lost so Carla raised her eyebrows in an attempt to get Elliot o listen to what she was trying to say. Elliot finally realised what she meant and her eyes went wide.

"Oh!" she said; and then burst out laughing. "Carla! No, of course not."

"Are you sure?" Carla asked, not entirely convinced. "I mean, you've been spending so much time with him and you're really angry that's he's going out with an old girlfriend…."

"I've spent so much time with him because I was bummed out about the whole Keith thing, not to mention that the whole hospital had a vendetta against us - thanks for sorting that out by the way - "

"Don't mention it." Carla said.

"and I'm angry because we have so much fun on our night in the hospital, and I don't see why he couldn't have made plans for _tomorrow_ night."

Carla nodded, satisfied for now. But there was still something weird about how Elliot was around JD lately. She also wondered if Elliot would feel differently if JD came clean about his feelings for her.

"Okay, sorry." she said to Elliot. "I just have to go talk to Dr Cox. Be right back."

Carla walked off and Elliot laughed again at Carla's question.

Me liking JD?! C'mon! Is she crazy? Don't get me wrong, JD's cool. I mean, he's sweet, kind, funny, good looking, dorky (in a cute way), we know everything about each other, I'm totally comfortable with him, he's usually the only one who can calm me down when I freak out about something, he's got these adorable quirks, he's great in the sack,………

What was I thinking about again?

* * *

Thanks to everyone who is reviewing this story and all the story/author alerts. Keep the reviews coming, they're like crack to me. : ) 


	8. Our Shift

Chapter 8! Enjoy!

* * *

"Amy." Dr Cox greeted as he strode into Mr Ockswell's room, taking the chart out of JD's hands as he approached the bed. "You're not usually in till later today."

"I switched shifts, I'm going out tonight." JD replied.

"Well, how about that!" Cox mocked, grinning but keeping his eyes on the chart in front of him. "Good for you! It's been a few months since you let a guy take you out and rock your world. What's this fella's name?"

"Julie."

Dr Cox looked up from his chart with a curious expression.

"Didn't you already date a guy named Julie?"

"I dated a _girl_ named Julie. It's the same girl."

Dr Cox turned to JD with a huge grin that told JD he was about to verbally abused…again.

"Well, Cynthia, you are just full of surprises. I still can't believe you ever _one_ woman to date you. But for a woman to date you, realise you're a woman and that she's not a lesbian, break up with you and _then_ agree to go out with you _again_! Well that's just--"

"You've been using the lesbian thing a lot lately." JD interrupted.

"Yes, well, I'm ashamed to say that, after six years, I appear to be running out of simple 'You're a girl' jokes. I'm having to go outside the box, in this case 'You're a girl who's also a lesbian'." Cox admitted.

"Well, anyway, it's not a date. We're just catching up."

"Newbie, you know as well as I do, you say you're just catching up; but when you had a few glasses of wine combined with some romantic music and lighting, well you just might find yourself changing catching up into giving it up. Well, look at that! Guess I do have a few more 'You're a girl' jokes in me after all."

"Whatever." JD said, turning and leaving.

**I'm really not in the mood for Dr Cox right now. I'm a couple of hours away from meeting Julie, and I'm feeling really guilty because I think that she thinks this is a date. But I really shouldn't; I've done nothing to make her think it is. I also haven't talked to Elliot since last night, and I already miss her company. And I can't really do anything about it because I don't really know why she's mad. Combine all this with Carla repeatedly telling me I'm scared of putting myself out there when it comes to my feelings for Elliot, this has been a crappy day. **

…

**Oh, and it's looking more and more likely that Mr Ockswell is going to die.**

**Despite our confidence about finding him getting a new kidney, we're struggling. And he's getting desperate. Okay, now I feel really guilty, bitching about my own problems when he's going through this.**

The time finally came when JD had to go home and get ready, but he thought he'd go and see Carla first to see if she'd talked to Elliot. He found her in the doctor's lounge.

"Hey Carla did you talk to--" he stopped when he saw Elliot sitting on the couch next to Carla. "Oh…it's you." was all he managed to say. She only scowled at him before turning back to Carla.

"I'll see you later, Carla. I have to get ready for my shift." She got up and started to walk to the door; but as she passed JD she added "You know, my shift? The one that's apparently _just mine_ and nobody else's."

"Still pissed off I see?" JD sarcastically asked.

"I'm not pissed off." she lied.

"How about, instead of lying to me, you tell me what exactly I did to piss you off?"

Elliot ignored him and left the room. She heard his footsteps following her.

"Elliot are you gonna tell me what I did?" he asked from behind her. She ignored him.

"Elliot?" She again ignored him and sped up in an effort to lose him. "Elliot, you might as well talk to me, cause I'm just gonna keep asking."

**Still not talking? Time to annoy answers out of her. First we repeat her name in the very same tone over and over.**

"Elliot? Elliot? Elliot? Elliot? Elliot? Elliot? Elliot? Elliot? Elliot? Elliot? Elliot?"

Elliot once again increased her speed of walking and began turning at random corners, still trying to get him to leave her alone.

**If the same-tone-treatment doesn't work, try saying her name as slowly as possible over and over.**

"Eeeellllliiiiiooootttttttttttttt? Eeeellllliiiiiooootttttttttttttt? Eeeellllliiiiiooootttttttttttttt? Eeeellllliiiiiooootttttttttttttt? Eeeellllliiiiiooootttttttttttttt? Eeeellllliiiiiooootttttttttttttt?"

She was now walking as fast as humanly possible without running. Her fists were clenched in annoyance

**She's cracking! Go in for the kill! Finish her off by saying her name as rapidly as possible.**

"ElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElliotElli--"

"OH MY GOD! SHUT UP!" she screeched, suddenly stopping and spinning around to face him.

"Talk to me then." he said.

"I though it meant more to you, okay?" she blurted out.

"What?" JD asked, frowning in confusion.

"Look, we have so much fun on this night every week, and then you just go off with Julie with less than a second's notice. I really enjoy these nights, JD, and they mean a lot to me. I guess…I just thought you felt the same way."

To that, JD could think of nothing to say; and it wasn't long before Elliot sighed and walked away. This time he didn't follow her.

* * *

A few hours later, JD was at the bar waiting for Julie to arrive. He couldn't stop thinking about Elliot and what she had said to him. He was also worried about how Julie saw their meeting tonight.

**Will you just stop creating more problems for yourself?! Why has it become so impossible for Julie to think of this as a nothing more than a friendly drink? Why are you so sure she thinks it's a……**

He stopped what he was thinking when he saw Julie enter. She looked amazing. Her hair had been curled slightly, high heels made her look taller, and the dress she wore looked like it had been made especially for her. And, unfortunately for JD, she looked as though she was dressed for a date.

* * *

Frick on a stick, I'm bored.

Elliot thought this as she sat on the counter of the nurse's station. For some reason, this particular night at Sacred Heart was often a quiet night. Apart from checking on patient's every so often, there wasn't a lot for Elliot to do. The area around her was deserted, the unfamiliar nurse who was sitting a few feet away moments ago had disappeared while Elliot wasn't looking.

If JD was here I wouldn't be bored. Damn it! I thought we we're trying to forget about him tonight? It's not like we'd really be doing anything interesting if he was right now anyway…

_Last week…_

_Elliot sits on the same counter. This time, however, JD sits next to her. Their heads are close together, separated only by a cell phone JD is holding so that they can both hear it._

"_Hello, Robert Kelso." comes the voice from the cell phone._

"_Oh, hello." says JD, putting on a higher pitched version of his own voice. "Is this the Chief of Medicine at Sacred Heart Hospital, Robert Kelso?"_

"_That's correct." Kelso says._

"_Well, I'm calling regarding one of your elderly board members of the hospital, Mr O'Neal; I understand you were familiar with him?" JD asks._

"_Yes." Kelso answers in an uninterested voice._

"_Well, unfortunately he passed away and--"_

"_That's terrible news," Kelso interrupts, clearly not caring. "but I'm in the middle of something here so if you could ju--"_

"_Well, you see sir," JD interrupts again. "Mr O'Neal didn't really have any family, and he has stated in his last will and testament that he is leaving his 'entire fortune and seat on the Sacred Heart Board to my dear friend Robert Kelso.'"_

"_Well, that's very nice but I re…….entire fortune? To me? How much?" Kelso asks, his tone suddenly changing._

"_Well, I don't have an exact number for you but I can tell you that Mr O'Neal was a very**, very **wealthy man."_

_Elliot's attempts to hold back her laughter crumble and she let's out a snort but JD quickly puts a hand over her mouth to stifle any noise before it's released._

"_Mr Kelso?" JD asks when Kelso's end of the line had been quiet for sometime._

"……………_I'M RICH!! I'M RICH!! HAHAHAHAAAA!!!!! I'M RICH!!!" Kelso exclaimed. "I'LL NEVER HAVE TO GO BACK TO THAT HELL HOLE OF A HOSPITAL EVER AGAIN!!!!! HA, HA, I'M RICH!!!!!! WHEN DO I GET MY MONEY?"_

"_Well," JD said, trying with every bit of self-control he had in his body to stop himself from laughing while keeping his hand over Elliot's mouth, who was shaking with silent laughter. "There's just one thing we need to know first."_

"_Oh, anything, anything." Kelso said quickly._

"_Well, Mr Kelso, is your computer up and running as we speak?" JD asked, knowing that he wouldn't be able to hold back for much longer. _

"_My computer?" Kelso replied. "Yes, Yes, it's switched on."_

"_It's running?" JD asked again._

"_Yes."_

"_Your computer is running?" JD asked a third time, feeling his efforts to contain himself start to fail._

"_Yes!" Kelso snapped impatiently._

_JD switched back to his regular voice._

"_Well, then Bob, you better go catch it!!"_

_He quickly put the phone down and removed his hand from Elliot's mouth as the two began to laugh their asses off. JD suddenly falls off the counter in laughter, only causing Elliot to laugh harder._

Just the memory caused Elliot to chuckle to herself.

"Ah, Barbie! I see you finally gone insane." said Dr Cox, appearing out of nowhere. Elliot nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Holy crap!" she said. "Where did you come from? I thought you went home already."

"I forgot something. And when I came up here to get it, I find you talking to yourself."

"I wasn't talking to myself." Elliot defended. "I was……laughing to myself."

"Which is less pathetic…how, exactly?" Cox asked, cocking his head to the side in mock interest.

"Whatever." Elliot simply said and started walking away.

Usually, I'd defend myself more but, ever since Dr Cox completely crossed the line a few weeks ago, making me cry, humiliating me, going so far that my JD actually hit him, he hasn't really tore into me or ranted at me at all. Since he apologised, things have been a little awkward.

_A few weeks ago…_

_Elliot is in the supply closet, actually looking for something instead of crying. She hears the door open and spins round to see Dr Cox standing there with his gaze firmly at his feet. Her eyes immediately go to the mark on his face where he had been hit._

"_Listen." he says, clearing his throat. "Yesterday, I was out of line. Something else has been eating at me for days and I just took it out on you. I'm glad Newbie did what he did. I was a complete asshole and deserved it."_

_He was silent for a few seconds and Elliot could see he really felt guilty._

"_I'm sorry, Bar…Elliot." He said, finally looking up at her._

_Caught off guard by the fact that he had used her real name for the first time in six years, she stayed silent._

"_I'm sorry." Cox repeated before turning around and leaving._

After that, it's been really uncomfortable. So, I'll just take this as a sign things are finally getting back to normal.

…

WHOA! Did I just say…'**my **JD'?!

Elliot stopped in her tracks.

Why do I keep doing that?! What the hell is wrong with me?

"Excuse me, Barbaroo?" came Cox's voice from behind her. "For this whole 'I'm so mad I'm storming off' thing to work, you have to actually take more than a few steps."

He came and stood in front of her, then saw her expression.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked.

"Nothing. Nothing. I should get back to work." she muttered, and shot out of sight before Cox could say another word.

"I'll never understand this place." he muttered to himself.

* * *

**Okay, so Julie looks incredible; too incredible for just a friendly drink but maybe you're just overreacting **

"So what have you been up to lately?" Julie asked.

**Well, I got my new girlfriend pregnant on the second date, who then moved to Tacoma and unfortunately lost the baby. I was homeless for a while. I got diagnosed with a condition where I sometimes pass out after I defecate. Oh, and I've recently realised I've been subconsciously in love with my best friend for the past six years.**

"Nothing much." JD replied. "You?"

"Same." she said.

"Wow, neither of us has done anything in over year. How cool are we?" JD joked and Julie giggled.

**Okay, was that a 'She likes me' giggle? No, No, your jokes are just hilarious. I think…wait a second!**

"Hey, you laughed." JD said. "You didn't just say 'That's so funny'."

"Yeah," she said. "Back when you asked me what I've been up to I probably should of mentioned that I worked on that habit and eventually kicked it! I know you used to hate that."

_JD and Julie are sitting in his apartment watching an episode of 'Cheers'._

"_That's so funny." Julie says. "And so is that. And that. That's so funny too. **That**'s so funny!"_

_JD is shaking and bites into his own hand until he actually draws blood._

"It did bother me a little bit, yeah."

"I really just couldn't believe that it had caused us to break up, you know?"

"Well, that wasn't really why we broke up. We both wanted different things."

"The key word there," Julie said, locking her eyes on his. "was 'wan_ted_'. I know what I really want know."

She took hold of his hand and smiled at him sweetly. JD looked at her for a few seconds before sighing and looking away.

**Still think she just wants to be friends?**

"Julie, listen…"

* * *

Elliot sat in Laverne's usually chair at the empty nurse's station. She had never been so bored in all her life. She had checked on every one of the patients she was responsible for at least five times each in the last hour. She tried calling Carla, but found that she and Turk had already gone to bed. Dr Mickhead, the attending who had switched shifts with JD, had repeatedly tried to give her tips on how to avoid leaving finger prints at a crime scene (tips he had read 'in some book'). She thought of the call to Kelso last week, and found herself laughing again. She looked at the counter in front of her, where JD would usually be sat, before remembering that no one was there and let out a sad sigh.

Suddenly, her beeper went off. She reached for it and read the message:

**_Surely you're supposed to be working right now, not lounging about._**

Elliot stared at her beeper in confusion.

What the hell?

She then received another message:

**_I'm watching you, Dr Reid._**

She read that line over and over again, not really believing it but still feeling fear starting to build up inside of her. She grabbed a nearby pen to be safe and, seconds later, her beeper went off a third time:

**_That pen won't help you._**

Now Elliot was starting to panic, evident by the fact that her breathing had notably sped up. She nearly had a heart attack when the beeper went off again. She fearfully read the message:

_**How gullible are you?**_

Now, she had gone back to being confused. It was a few seconds before she got another message:

**_Turn around, Smelliot!_**

She spun around and saw JD standing there with a smirk on his face and his own beeper in his hand. She threw the pen at him but he ducked out of the way.

"That's so not funny." she said in annoyance.

"I respectfully disagree with that statement." he said, walking over and jumping up to sit on the counter in front of her.

"Well…wait, what are you doing here. Did Julie stand you up?" she asked

"No." JD answered

"Date was that bad it ended this early?" she guessed.

"It wasn't a date." he corrected.

"So it was going okay?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Then why are you here?" Elliot asked, confused again.

"I don't even really know." he answered. "Have you ever been someplace…and then suddenly realised that you really wanna be somewhere else?"

Elliot couldn't help but beam at him, and he returned her smile with a huge one of his own. A few minutes later, Elliot realised that they had been smiling at each other for about three straight minutes and looked away. She was blushing slightly, though she didn't know why.

"So, be honest." JD broke the silence. "How much did you miss the J-Dizzle?"

"I honestly forget you were even supposed to be here." Elliot teased.

"Liar. Now, are you gonna get out your phone so we can call Kelso again or what?"

"I thought you'd never ask." Elliot said.

As she dialled her boss' number, she thought about how JD had been there for about 5 minutes, and had already turned her night around.

* * *

Let me know what you think about this chapter! Oh, and try saying 'Elliot' that fast, that many times! 


	9. My God, or Fate, or Whatever

As I type this, my computer clock reads 3:09 AM. So, where I am (England), it's already Christmas Eve...just really early. This story is finished, I'm going to post the final three chapters over the next 2 days; chapter 9 now (Christmas Eve morning), chapter 10 later (Christmas Eve day time) and the 11th and final chapter tomorrow (Christmas Day). In reality, they're all just three parts of a rrreeeaaalllyyy long chapter (this is the longest part, so the other two are not really as long as past chapters). Anyway, I hope everyone who reads it enjoys it and has a great Christmas.

**

* * *

**

**Doctor****'****s usually have a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit.**

JD stood in the ICU and looked at the patients all around him, clinging onto life.

**I mean, how are you supposed to feel festive when you're surrounded by death?**

"WOOOOOOOO! There's only 1 day till Christmas! WOOOOOOO!" The Todd screamed as he danced around JD.

**Well, that's one way.**

"Merry Christmas Eve, baby." Turk said as he leaned across the counter of the nurse's station to give his wife a kiss.

**There's another.**

"You should all be receiving a cheque containing a Christmas bonus very soon." Dr Kelso announced. Every doctor in the area began to cheer.

**Well, they usually find it hard anyway. Hmm, I guess I don't know this place as well I thought I did. However, there's one thing that's for sure: Dr Cox is the biggest hater of Christmas ever!**

"Everyone," Dr Cox said, standing in the centre of the room with a huge grin. "just in case I forget, I wanted to wish everybody, from the bottom of my heart, a Merry Christmas!"

The doctors who were cheering stopped and stared at Cox in disbelief.

**What the hell?!**

"Dr Cox, that's really nice of you." Elliot said, touched at Cox's gesture.

"Thank you, Barbie. I'd also like to say….God bless us, everyone."

Elliot looked like she was about to cry, she was so touched. "Dr Cox, that's beautiful."

"Yeah…it's also a lie. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" he roared, the smile quickly disappearing.

"Dancing and cheering in the middle of the Intensive Care Unit? This is a hospital! GET BACK TO WORK!"

The crowd scrambled away.

**There's the Cox I know and love.**

……**thank God Todd never heard tha--**

"Hey, JD! I got some Cox for you to know and love right here!" Todd said, gesturing to his crotch.

**How did he do that?!**

JD quickly moved away from The Todd and over to the nurse's station to see Carla. As soon as he had sat down next to her, Elliot joined them, handing Carla a chart.

"Carla, Mr Rigby is ready to be discharged." she said. The nurse frowned.

"Mr Rigby?"

"Elderly patient? Huge baseball fan? Always talking about it……..?"

Carla was still lost.

"Has the _really_ hot son?"

"Oh, Mr Rigby!" Carla finally caught on. "My God, his son is fine."

"Good lord, I know! Yesterday, when he came in, he asked me if--"

"I'll see you guys at lunch." JD interrupted, leaving as quickly as he had sat down.

**I do not need to hear this.**

Carla shot him a sympathetic smile as he left. Elliot tried to continue but was interrupted again, this time by the subject of their conversation.

"Dr Reid, my dad tells me you're releasing him?" said the young man.

Oh my God, he is so gorgeous it should be illegal. Elliot! He's talking to you, get a grip!

"Yes, I just gave his chart to Nurse Turk here." Elliot turned to Carla, only to see her eyes roaming the body of Mr Rigby's son like he was a piece of meatl. Elliot swiftly stepped in front of her so he couldn't see.

"You're father is free to go as soon as we sort out the paperwork." she finished.

"That's great." he replied. "You've been a fantastic doctor."

"Thanks…you're dad's been a great patient!" Elliot responded.

"I was wondering if you maybe wanted to have dinner with me sometime?" Mr Rigby's son suddenly asked, catching Elliot completely off guard. In a second, Carla had snapped out of her trance and Laverne had shot over so that both could listen.

Elliot's mind was completely blank.

Say something! Stop opening and closing your mouth, at least.

"What's wrong, do you have a boyfriend?" he asked, taking he silence as a bad sign.

"Yes." she answered. The words were out of her mouth before she knew it. "I'm sorry."

"That's a shame." he said.

He thanked her again and left, leaving Elliot to turn around to a very confused Carla.

"What the heck was that?" Carla asked. "You just said he was hot, then you shoot down his date offer, telling him you have a boyfriend?"

"So?"

"Elliot, you don't have a boyfriend."

Yes I do. JD. 

…

Oh my God, it happened again! What is wrong with me?! Think about it later, we don't want Carla to find out about this.

It was then that Carla's jaw dropped and her eyes widened.

"Oh my God." she gasped. "You're thinking about JD as your boyfriend, aren't you!"

FRICK!

Elliot grabbed Carla by the wrist and took her out into the hall outside the ICU where they were less likely to be heard.

"Carla you have to help me, I can't stop doing that."

"Doing what?"

"Mentally referring to JD as if we're a couple." Elliot explained. "What the hell is wrong with me?"

"Elliot," started Carla. "I know I've brought this up before but, do you think this is because you li--"

"I don't like JD." the tone in Elliot's voice told Carla to drop that theory. Anyway, Elliot had a different one.

"Maybe…maybe it's just because I haven't had a guy in my life since I broke up with Keith."

"You did what?!" said a voice from behind Elliot. She didn't have to turn around to see who it was.

Excellent! This is just what I need.

"Hi, mom." she greeted.

10 minutes later, Elliot and her mother were sitting in the hospital cafeteria.

"I can't believe you messed up another relationship!" her mother said to her in astonishment. "Do you have a vendetta against giving me a grandchild?"

"No, Mom. Me and Keith just weren't right for each other." Elliot tried to explain. Her mother let out harsh laugh.

"You say that every time. This one lasted a year and then you suddenly decide he's not right for you?"

"Well, what do you want me to do, Mom?" Elliot burst out, completely exasperated by her mother. "There is no special test I can take to find out if a guy is right for me, y'know!"

Her mother opened her mouth to reply, but closed it before saying a word. Then a grin began to creep onto her face.

"Actually…" she said. She then took a magazine out of her bag and flipped through until she found the page she was looking for, handing it across the table to her daughter. "…there is!"

"'_10 questions to determine your soul-mate?'_" Carla repeated incredulously, reading the title of the quiz in her hand that Elliot's mother had ripped out and given to her.

"She wants me to use it on every male I know, and then on every male I meet if the one's I know don't fit the bill." Elliot informed her best friend as they sat at the nurse's station.

Carla read the quiz's questions aloud: "_'__**1.**__ How old am I? __**2. **__What is my middle name? __**3.**__ What is my job? __**4.**__ Where did I grow up? __**5.**__ Who is my best friend? __**6.**__ How many siblings do I have?__** 7.**__ What is my biggest secret? __**8.**__ What did I want to be growing up? __**9.**__ What is the one thing I would change about myself? __**10.**__ What would my perfect wedding include?'_ Elliot, these are pretty hard. In fact, I'm your best friend and I only know 4 out of 5."

"Exactly." agreed the blonde, taking the torn-our magazine page back from Carla. "That's how stupid it is. Who would know this stuff about me?"

"'Sup, Carla, Smelliot." JD greeted, jumping up to his usual seat on the counter. "What's this?" He grabbed the page from Elliot's hands. As he grabbed it, the part of the page containing the quiz's title tore and fell to the floor. "Sorry! Hey, is this one of those tests to see how much you know about your friend?"

"Actually, it's to see how much you know about your s--"

"Elliot, these are easy!" JD exclaimed. Elliot was about to try and correct him again but stopped when he said those words.

"Y-you know the answers to those?" she asked in shock.

"Um…Yeah! Let's see. You're 29, You're middle name is Lily, you're obviously a doctor, you were born in Stamford but you moved to Greenwich when you were 8, you're best friend is…er…_Carla,_" JD waited for Carla to turn and smile at Elliot, and then pointed to himself and mouthed 'me'. "you have four brothers, you're biggest secret is…." he leaned towards Elliot to whisper the next answer in her ear. "…_you're a republican_, you wanted to be a ballerina when you were a little girl, if you could change anything about yourself it would be you're bangs despite the fact that I now believe that they actually _do_ frame your face aaanndd you're perfect wedding would be….um….damn it…." JD shut his eyes tight and willed his mind to remember. "Aha! A big church wedding, with a boy-girl-boy seating arrangement, reading your own written vows; you'd arrive at the church in horse drawn carriage and leave for the airport to go on you're honeymoon straight after the reception in a white limo. And the song playing during you're first dance would be…um…'Your Song', Elton John. Am I right?"

Elliot, jaw hanging in amazement, could only nod weakly. Carla, too, was shocked, but amused at the same time; she hid her grin.

"Then why are you looking at me like that?" asked JD, seeing the weird expression on Elliot's features.

"I…I…j-just didn't know you…k-knew so much about me." Elliot managed to squeak out.

"You talk so damn much about your life, how could I not? Just kidding, Smelliot. Gotta go, later!" he said, playfully slapping Elliot's arm as he left.

Silence passed between Elliot and Carla after JD left. Carla didn't dare suggest to Elliot what she was thinking, telling herself it was best to let Elliot come to that conclusion on her own. Elliot finally spoke.

"That…doesn't mean anything." she told Carla.

"I'm sure it doesn't." Carla responded, again fighting to suppress a grin.

"It's just a stupid magazine quiz." Elliot pointed out. Carla only nodded. "It doesn't mean that JD is my…ahem…soul mate."

"Sure." Carla simply said.

"It was probably just lucky that he knew all those answers anyway." said Elliot.

"Probably."

"And it was probably jus--" Elliot started, but Carla cut her off.

"Are you trying to convince me here? Or yourself?" With that, Carla picked up the charts in front of her and left Elliot to ponder her question.

* * *

"How's he doing?" JD asked his mentor. He has seen Dr Cox standing outside Mr Ockswell's room, staring through the window at the sleeping patient. JD already knew the answer to his own question. 

"Not good." came the hoarse reply of Dr Cox.

Mr Ockswell's health had deteriorated, just as hopes of finding him a kidney were doing.

"We'll find one." JD said quietly. He didn't know if he was telling Dr Cox or himself. Regardless, it was Dr Cox who let out a bitter laugh.

"Why?" the older doctor asked. "Because it's Christmas? You've been here nearly seven years now, Newbie. Surely you should know, Death doesn't celebrate Christmas; he doesn't take a break during the holidays. It's been seven years, kid……it's time for you to wake up."

Before JD could utter another word, Cox was gone.

**I can't even argue with that. Cox once said that God hates Doctors; well, he certainly hates this one. Festive spirit? Yeah, right! What do I have to feel festive about? The nicest guy I've ever met is dying; probably right before Christmas, and, despite the fact that it's eating me alive, I'm uncontrollably in love with a girl who I've already blown my last chance with. Christmas spirit my ass.**

Seemingly out of nowhere, anger, frustration and exhaustion all fell over JD. He cast another look at the resting Mr Ockswell through the window, and then walked off to his next patient.

"Hey Bambi!" Carla greeted him about an hour later, walking over to him as he stood beside another patient's bed, looking at his chart. JD didn't return her greeting, instead briefly looking up from the chart and then looking back down just as quickly. Carla noticed his behaviour.

"You okay?" she had to ask. He let out an eerily familiar bitter laugh.

"I'm fantastic." he responded, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "All of my patients are dying. I've never been better." He stormed off without saying anything else leaving Carla to wonder what was wrong and who he had just reminded her of.

"Hey, Vanilla Bear."

JD had only just turned the corner when he met Turk and Todd, both wearing reindeer antlers.

"What's the frown for?" Turk asked, observing JD's pissed off expression. "Cheer up, man! It's the holidays! It's a time to be happy."

"I would cheer up." JD said, moving around the two surgeons and continuing his path down the hall way, shouting over his shoulder. "But unfortunately, Death doesn't celebrate the holidays, meaning people could still and probably will die in this hell hole."

JD then saw the Janitor walking towards him, an evil grin on his face and his mouth opening to speak. "Not today!" JD snapped and side stepped him, leaving the custodian, Turk and Todd all to watch his retreating form in confusion.

* * *

"I'm afraid I'm going to need a soul-mate test." Elliot said to the patient in front of her. 

"A what?" the patient replied, not sure if he'd heard her right.

"URINE test! Urine, sorry, urine test." she quickly corrected.

That stupid test has left me so frazzled. Elliot thought as she walked away from the bed. Stupid test. I hate that thing. And stupid JD, too, for knowing all the answers. I hate him. No I don't. I'm actually touched that he knew all that. Well, touched is an understatement. I can't really describe what I feel; it's funny. It's not _that_, though, not the 'L' word. No. We're totally past that. We're just really, really good friends now. Speak of the devil…

"Hey." she smiled at JD, who was leaning on the counter of the nurse's station. She then realised that he had his head in his hands and looked distressed. "What's wrong?"

He didn't answer, handing her a patient chart instead. She looked at the information and winced.

This guy isn't doing so well. 

"Hey, it's okay." she said, attempting to comfort him.

"Why?" came his heated response, as he suddenly shot up from the counter. "Because it's Christmas?"

She was so caught off guard by his reply that she didn't have anything to say, and he stormed off before she even could think of something.

* * *

"What the hell did you do to Bambi?!" Carla yelled at Dr Cox, who was trying to get some sleep on the doctor's lounge couch during his break. He flinched at the sudden loud voice, but kept his eyes shut. 

"You'll have to excuse me, I can't recall doing anything to a fictional Disney character." he mumbled.

"I'm serious. What did you do to JD?" Carl repeated. It didn't take long after hearing of Turk's encounter with JD to realise he seemed to be emulating his mentor.

Dr Cox reluctantly opened his eyes. "I didn't do anything to Chloe." Before Carla could inquire any further, Elliot burst into the room.

"What have you said to JD?" she yelled at Cox in the same manner.

"Please, Please!" Perry said, standing up from the couch. "One crazy woman at a time!"

"I just spoke with JD, and he's more angry and depressed than I've ever seen him." Elliot said. "The only person in this hospital heartless enough to make someone like that at this time is you. Which leads back to my original question; what did you say to him?"

"Hey, all I did was remind the kid that this wondrous time of year isn't so wondrous in a hospital," Cox defended. "and that people still die during December, and that--"

"You're unbelievable." Carla interrupted, shaking her head in disgust. "Now, I have to go talk to him."

"No, I'll go." Elliot said. "You're always the one left to sort stuff like this out, I'll do it this time. After all, he's my soul-mate too……FRIEND! He's my friend, too! I…he……FRICK!"

She blew the stray pieces of blonde hair from her eyes and left, leaving Dr Cox to cock his head to the side in bewilderment.

"That woman is absolutely insa--" he tried to say, but Carla cut in again.

"She may be taking care of JD, but I'm nowhere near finished with you." she snarled. Cox backed up slightly. "Just because you take you're general hate for everything and multiply it by a thousand during this of year, doesn't mean you have to take a happy kid and turn him into heartless bastard like you."

She turned and intended to storm off, but he caught her wrist.

"Hey! I am _not_ a heartless bastard! I'm just realistic. I'm sick of people in this place thinking that Christmas means patients are suddenly going to get better, it doesn't work like that."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Perry. You may not give a crap about JD, but I do, so stop messing with his head."

"Don't give a crap about him? I've been looking over his shoulder since day one, making sure he doesn't do something stupid, ready to take the fall for him. I give a hell of a lot more than a crap about him. And that goes for everybody else in this dump."

Carla raised her eyebrows in shock. It was then that Cox realised he'd admitted that he cared about the people he works with, proving the shrink's theory correct.

"……oh, God." he muttered, and sat back on the couch, head in his hands. "I hate this place."

Carla smiled. "Y'know…we care about you, too." Dr Cox peeked out from behind the hands that where covering his face.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"……sort of." Carla joked, sitting down next to him.

* * *

"JD!" Elliot called, catching up to him in the hall. He didn't even look behind him. 

"Just leave me alone, Elliot."

She grabbed his hand and spun him around to face her. "C'mon, I know everything seems to be going wrong and Dr Cox being Dr Cox didn't help but you can't let it bring you down."

"What am I supposed to do, Elliot?"

"Talk to me, let me help you."

"It's not something that y--"

JD stopped mid sentence for the same reason that Dr Cox did as he sat on the couch back in the doctor's lounge. They had both just received a page. They both looked at the message, and both spoke the same words:

"Oh God, no!"

JD was on the other side of the hospital so by the time he arrived, it was already over. The nurse's silently left the room, and Dr Cox followed, his head hanging. He looked up and saw JD, the young doctor's eyes asking a question he once again already knew the answer to.

Dr Cox shook his head.

Needing to see it for himself but not daring to go in, JD approached the window. There was the proof. He felt numb, he was so shocked that he barely felt Dr Cox's hand on his shoulder.

"You gonna be, okay?"

JD didn't answer.

**This can't be happening. Not now. Not now. It can't be.**

"Newbie?" Cox asked again. He gripped JD's shoulder a little tighter, but JD suddenly shrugged him off.

"JD?" Dr Cox said, hoping using his actual name would bring the kid to his senses.

"I…I can't…I…" It was all JD could say. Dr Cox took a step towards him, but JD backed off, shaking his head. He turned and practically ran out of the room. Dr Cox dropped his head again.

"What happened?" Elliot asked, out of breath having run all the way here.

Dr Cox didn't answer, but nodded towards the window. Elliot turned and saw the now lifeless body of Mr Ockswell.

* * *

JD barely remembered leaving the ICU, or entering the supply closet, or falling to sit on the floor. He didn't remember starting to cry either, and didn't realise till he tried to rub his eyes that there were tears running down his cheeks. The silence of being alone in that room was killing him, so much so that he jolted when he heard the door open. He didn't need to look up to see who it was, somehow he just knew it was her. 

"Hey." Elliot said softly.

"Hey." he replied. She came and sat down next to him and then they where quiet for a while.

"How'd you know I was here?" he finally asked.

"I don't know." she answered honestly. "I just kind of did."

Another comfortable silence followed until JD let out a small, humourless laugh. Elliot looked at him.

"I just…that's never happened to me before, reacting to a death like that. Not in seven years." he admitted.

"I happens to all of us sooner or later. For you, it was seven years down the line in the middle of the ICU. For me, it was my first day in this very supply closet."

He laughed again, sincerely this time. It wasn't long before a third silence fell between them, the longest yet..

"I just can't believe it." he said eventually. "We were so sure we were gonna find him a donor. A few weeks ago he was fine and now……"

"I know." she said gently.

"It's weird but, I can't help but feel like…God, or fate, or whatever…is trying to tell me something."

"Well, maybe God, or fate, or whatever is trying to tell you that life is fragile," she answered, taking hold of his hand. "and that you should cherish it. Make sure you live it to the fullest, and don't have any regrets when it comes to an end."

**Those were basically the same words that Carla had been saying to me for the past few moths, but I don't know if it was hearing them come out of her mouth or Mr Ockswell's death serving as a wake up call, or maybe a combination of both; but for whatever reason, right there I realised what I had to do…and that there was no time like the present.**

Elliot looked up to see JD gazing right at her, their eyes locked in a second and neither felt as though they could pull away.

"I think you're right." JD whispered, squeezing her hand.

Then, Elliot couldn't believe what she was seeing. JD's face was slowly getting closer to hers. He was leaning in, getting closer and closer and she vaguely felt her eyes flutter shut.

Before she knew it, his lips met hers. For the first time in over three years, JD was kissing her…and she was kissing him back.

It wasn't till JD's lips made contact with Elliot's that he realised how much he'd wanted to kiss her and how long it had been since he had done so. The kiss itself was slow and gentle. In reality it lasted about 5 seconds, but to them it seemed like hours.

Elliot's mind was a total haze. Then, it was like an alarm went off in her head. She abruptly jerked her head back.

"JD." she said breathlessly. "What…what are we doing."

"Kissing." JD said, equally as breathless but grinning slightly as well.

"We-we can't do this." she said, standing up. He did the same.

"Why?"

"Because we are going to screw up what we have, what we've worked for."

"Which is?"

"A normal friendship."

"I don't want a normal friendship." he said, grabbing her hand again.

"JD, you're in shock. Mr Ockswell just died; you don't know what you're doing."

"For the first time in months I actually do know what I'm doing."

"We've been down this road before." she told him. Strangely, she felt as though she was frantically searching for reasons not to kiss him again.

"Yeah." he answered. "And God, or fate, or whatever keeps bringing us back together."

"Yeah, but we know where this road ends, JD."

"This time is different."

"Why?" she asked.

"I'm not afraid anymore!" he practically yelled.

She once again found herself searching for words, looking all around the small supply closet as long as it wasn't at him.

"Elliot," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I love you."

Her eyes snapped back to his instantly.

"What?" she whispered back.

"I said I'm in love with you, Elliot." he repeated, this time in a louder, clearer voice.

He took a step forward and tried to cup her face, but she backed off.

"JD." she said, looking straight at her feet. "I…I…I can't"

She let go of his hand and ran out of the closet, leaving JD alone; his worst fear turning to reality.

* * *

Remember to check back later for the next chapter, or, to save you the trouble, put this story on a chapter alert: ) Reviews very much appreciated! 


	10. My Wrong Turn

Okay, since this is the second update in the space of about 12 hours, I get the feeling that people are going to read this chapter thinking it's chapter 9. So...

**THE FOLLOWING IS THE 10th CHAPTER OF THIS STORY, IF YOU HAVE NOT READ CHAPTER 9 (MY GOD, OR FATE, OR WHATEVER) THEN YOU WILL NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT'S GOING ON. PLEASE GO BACK ONE CHAPTER AND MAKE SURE THAT YOU'VE READ THE PREVIOUS ONE.**

For those of you that have read chapter 9, please enjoy the penultimate chapter.

* * *

"JD, there you are." Carla said. She and Turk had been searching all over the hospital for him after his reaction to Mr Ockswell's sudden death. The roof was her last shot, and it paid off; she had opened the roof door to see him sitting on the ledge of the roof.

"Turk." she shouted down the stairs behind her. "I found him, he's here." A few seconds later Turk emerged from the door. He caught sight of JD's position on the edge of the roof, and the cold, miserable expression on his face.

"Dude!" he suddenly yelled. "Don't do it! Don't jump!" Carla smacked her husband's arm.

"Don't be stupid, he's not going to jump……are you?"

JD answered by merely shaking his head. The two made there way over to him. He didn't look at them, instead turning his gaze to the Christmas lights of the city below.

"Hey." Carla said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I know this is a shock, and that you really liked Mr Ockswell, but we're here for you. Right, Turk?"

Turk nodded in response.

"Thanks." JD replied. "But Elliot kinda beat you to it."

"What do you mean?" Turk asked.

"She, er, talked to me after it happened."

"So…you're saying you're okay?" Carla asked uncertainly.

"As okay as I'm gonna be. But that's not the reason I'm out here."

Carla and Turk waited in silence for him to tell them, but he never did. He got up off the ledge and started pacing back and forth.

"Buddy?" Turk asked after a whole minute of pacing.

"It was so stupid." JD finally spoke. "We were having a nice moment, she'd comforted me and brought me back down to earth……and I just ruined it. Arrrgh! I'm such an idiot."

Turk looked completely lost. His wife, on the other hand, was starting to get what JD was saying.

"Bambi…" she started. "…are you saying that you did what I think you did."

Again JD didn't answer, instead he stopped pacing and looked right at Carla. His eyes confirmed what she was thinking.

"You told her?!" she gasped. He nodded, and Turk looked between the two.

"Told who what?" he asked, but JD and Carla ignored him.

"I don't know why I did it, I just did." JD spoke to Carla.

"Did what?" Turk asked, raising his voice this time.

"One minute we're talking about Mr Ockswell, and the next I'm kissing her." JD said and began to pace again.

"You kissed her!!" Carla gasped again.

"Kissed who?" Turk yelled.

"That's not all." JD said in a low voice, stopping his pacing once again and turning away from them to look off the roof. "I told her…everything; and she ran."

"No!" Carla gasped for a third time.

"Okay! Will somebody please tell me what the hell is going on?" Turk demanded.

"I told Elliot that I was in love with her, Turk," JD said, turning back to face him. "and she ran away from me."

Turk's jaw dropped. JD's words seem to hang in the air.

"But…I thought that was just a rumour that the nurses made up."

"Quiet, Turk. I'll explain later." Carla said and moved closer to JD but he stepped back.

"No, this is completely you're fault." he said.

"My fault?"

"I knew this would happen. I knew she would freak out, I told you she would. But, no, you just kept pushing me, telling me 'open up to her'. I can't believe I listened to you, I…"

"Bambi." Carla cut him off. Her voice was firm and showed that he had to listen to her now. "I know you're hurt right now, so I'm going to ignore what you just said. Now, look at me." He did. "Tell me exactly what she said."

JD thought back to that horrible moment. "She…She said that we had been down this road before and that we knew where it ended, and I said that this time I wasn't afraid and…that I loved her. Then she started saying she couldn't."

"Couldn't what?" Turk asked.

"I don't know, that's all she said: 'I can't, I can't'. That's when she bolted."

"And when you kissed her," Carla asked carefully. "did she kiss you back?"

JD had a sudden flash back to the intoxicating feeling of her lips moving on his.

"Yeah, she did." he answered.

Carla nodded like she suddenly understood what happened.

"Bambi, she's just scared. She's exactly where you've been for months. She'll come around."

"You really think so?" he asked. She nodded in reply.

"Just give her time." she added.

* * *

A hand waiving in front of her face brought Elliot back to her senses.

"Barbie? You wanna stop daydreaming?" Dr Cox said to her. "I swear to God, some times I think you are just the female version of Newbie…wait, that directly contradicts my 'You're a girl' insults…forget I even said that. Anyway, are you gonna do some work or what?"

As Dr Cox walked away, Elliot ran her fingers through her hair and tried to focus. It was pointless though, her mind was determined to continue to reply the incident in the supply closet.

JD isn't in love with me. Mr Ockwell's death just has him freaked out. I shouldn't dwell on it……or that kiss. I forget how amazing of a kisser JD is and I…NO! Don't even think about the kiss…or the fact that you kissed him back. Why did I ki-- Arrgghh! Just put it out of your mind. It's probably best if you stay away from JD for the next couple of days; give him time to realise he doesn't really love you.

"Barbie, I need you to find Newbie for me." Dr Cox yelled from the other end of the ICU.

……………FRICK!

* * *

"It'll all work out, Bambi." Carla said to JD. Turk smiled at him in a reassuring way. Before JD could say anything else, his pager went off. He looked at the message.

"It's Elliot." he said in disbelief. "She wants to see me downstairs!"

"What did I tell you?" Carla said. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go talk to her!"

JD gave one last smile to his friends before sprinting to the roof access door. In a flash, he was in the ICU. His eyes scanned the room till he saw her by the nurse's station, writing on a chart.

"Hey." he said when he reached her. Her eyes moved up from the chart to his, remained there for a second, and then returned to the chart. JD's brow furrowed in confusion. It didn't look like she wanted to talk.

"You paged me?" he asked her to make sure.

"Dr Cox is going to talk to Mr Ockswell's family;" she said, without looking up at him. "he wants you to go with him."

JD's heart sank; that was the reason she had paged him.

"Elliot I--" he started, but she quickly cut in.

"He's over there." she said, pointing to Dr Cox standing outside of the patient's room, firmly keeping her gaze in front of her. Cox was currently motioning for him to come over. With a heavy sigh, JD had no choice but to walk over to his mentor. As soon as she was sure he wouldn't hear, Elliot let out the breath she didn't realise she'd been holding, and watched him walk away.

Later, after the horrible and extremely difficult task of talking to Mrs Ockswell and her two now fatherless sons, JD felt he owed Dr Cox and apology. Once the Ockswell's had left, they were the only people in the room once occupied by Mr Ockswell.

"I'm sorry…about before, they way I reacted." JD said.

"Don't worry about it, Newbie. Happens to the best of us now and then."

"Even you?"

"No, but only because I am the absolute best in the entire world."

"But what about that thing with the three patients and the organs from the patient with rabies where they al--?"

"That was an isolated incident." Cox said. "The point of this conversation is that what happened was no big deal."

JD smiled in appreciation and made a move to leave, but was halted by his mentor's voice.

"Newbie."

JD turned and saw Cox looking like he couldn't believe what he was about to do.

"When things like this happen," Cox said, indicating to the empty bed. "it reminds you how easy life can be taken away. This, combined with a conversation between me and an annoyingly persistent nurse, means that I have to say something."

"Oh my God! You're dying!" JD suddenly said.

"No, I'm not dying you idiot!" Cox snapped. "I just…d'you remember a couple of months ago when we were both given stupid theories from that God-damn shrink? Well, what he said to me…what I've been trying to prove wrong…is…he said that, for all my insults, rants, and the general irritation caused by everything you do, I actually don't…totally…completely hate you."

JD felt a grin creep onto his face. Perry cleared his throat and continued.

"So, for future reference, when I'm calling you girl's names, questioning your gender, criticizing every decision you make, and generally making it look like I don't care about you or Barbie or Ghandi or anybody else, just remember that that's really my way of saying that…I do care."

"Thanks." JD had to say.

"No problem, Newbie."

A few seconds of silence followed, before JD broke it.

"Wanna hug?"

"I don't care _that_ much, Kristin." Cox said, walking out of the room, knocking into JD's shoulders as he went.

**Just thought I would have been a nice moment……oh, well. **

JD left Mr Ockswell's room and walked right back over to Elliot.

"Listen, we need to talk." he said to her.

"No we don't." she answered swiftly. "You need to spend some time alone and realise that you're just in shock. You're not thinking straight. Mr Ockswell's death has left you scared."

"Elliot, for the first time since I met you, I'm not scared……I really do love you."

"No, JD, you don't." He could see she was trying to shrug him off and ignore him by focusing on the chart in front of her.

"Well, it doesn't really matter whether I love you or not, does it?" JD asked bitterly. "Because you obviously don't feel the same way."

"I didn't say that!"

The words seemed to fall out of her mouth before she had even thought of them. JD stared at her in total shock.

"I don't know why I said that." she tried to cover up.

"Then take it back."

She couldn't. For some bizarre reason she couldn't take that sentence back.

"Elliot," he started, taking hold of her hand. But she quickly jerked it back.

"JD, please!" she whispered

'**Please'? She's pleading with me?**

"I can't deal with this right now." she continued. "Just…leave me alone for awhile."

She was gone faster than he could stop her.

"Didn't go well?" came Carla's voice from behind him.

"No, she asked me to leave her alone."

"She's just scared, Bambi. Give her time."

"Yeah." he reluctantly agreed.

Carla suggested he go home and get some rest, it having been a long day for him. His shift had actually ended over an hour ago, so he did as she said. Once he was gone, Carla went looking for Elliot. She found her just about to go into a supply closet, but Carla grabbed her and pulled her to an empty doctor's lounge.

"Talk to me." She said to Elliot.

"About what?" Elliot replied, playing dumb.

"You know what. JD poured his heart out to you, why did you run from him."

"Because I didn't know what else to say," Elliot admitted, but then told another lie. "I'm not in love with him."

"Give me a break!" said Carla, not in the mood for the whole denial thing. "You don't think I see the way you look at him when you think no one's watching? You don't think I see how comfortable and free you act when you're with him?"

"You're imagining things. I had to tell him the truth."

"The truth is that JD is the one guy you have never had to put up a façade with, never had to pretend to be someone else with. You love him and you know it. Now, you aren't usually afraid of committing so, what I can't figure out is why you're holding back, why--"

"Because I am not gonna get hurt again, alright?" she cried, catching Carla off guard. "Remember the last time this happened, Carla. When JD suddenly declared his love for me? Do you remember what happened? I got my heart broken. And over the last few months, even though I've tried to deny it, I've felt my feelings for him growing stronger than ever. But I just can't bring myself to take a chance on him again. If he suddenly decided 'Oh, hey, guess what? I don't love you!' again, I don't think I'd get over it this time."

Elliot didn't even realise tears had started to pour. She collapsed on the couch, feeling suddenly drained of energy. Carla sat next to her.

"He was scared." she said to Elliot. "Petrified, actually. And he told himself that he was only idealising you; he was trying to protect himself, just like you've been doing. But this time…I really believe he's ready. He's seen somebody that used to be so alive suddenly die, and he's realised that life is too short. As for you, you can fill out as many magazine quiz's as you want, but you'll never find your soul mate if you don't take a chance "

"Carla, I can't put myself through that again, I won't, I--"

"Elliot," Carla said soothingly, feeling Elliot getting worked up again. "telling me all this isn't going to help you. You need to talk to him."

"You're right." Elliot agreed after a few seconds. "I owe him that. Where is he?"

"He just left" she answered.

"I'll just call his cell and see where he is, then." she said, getting out her out cell phone and dialling his number.

"Hello?" JD answered.

"JD……it's Elliot." she said awkwardly.

"Elliot?"

"Yeah. Listen, we, um, need to talk. Can you come back to the hospital?"

"Of course," JD said. "I…it's just…"

"What?" Elliot asked.

"Nothing, I…I wasn't paying attention and I accidentally took a wrong turn…I'm on the freeway!"

Elliot couldn't help but laugh, and JD joined in. He went on though, "But I'll be there as soon as I--"

JD never finished that sentence, and next thing Elliot heard was a deafening crashing sound.

"JD? JD? **JD?!!**" she screamed frantically into the phone.

The line had gone dead.

* * *

The 11th and final chapter will be posted tomorrow, on Christmas Day. Reviews would be an amazing Christmas present HINT. 


	11. My 'Accident'

First things first, just to be safe...

**THE FOLLOWING IS THE 11th CHAPTER. IF YOU HAVE NOT READ CHAPTER 10, 'MY WRONG TURN', OR CHAPTER 9, 'MY GOD, OR FATE, OR WHATEVER', THEN YOU WILL HAVE NO IDEA WHAT'S GOING ON IN THIS CHAPTER.**

Now that that's out of the way, I have to say, I'm not really happy with the way this final chapter turned out. I think I might have actually re-wrote it completely if I hadn't promised to post it on Christmas day (even though I left it late, 11:54 PM by my clock). I think I might have to write an epilogue, just to get a sense of closure. Well, anyway, here's the final chapter (for now, at least)!

* * *

"Elliot? What's wrong?" Carla asked. She jumped up from her seated position on the doctor's lounge couch and walked across the room to her friend. Elliot had suddenly stopped her conversation with JD and started screaming his name into her phone.

Elliot took the phone away from her ear, only a dial tone could be heard from it, and stared at it horror.

"Elliot?" Carla repeated, putting a hand on Elliot's arm.

"J-JD, he's hurt." Elliot said, abruptly turning and running out of the room. Carla followed.

"What?"

"He said something about being on the freeway and then there was the loud crash and…ohmygod, he's been in accident."

"Elliot…slow down…Elliot…where are you going?"

"I have no idea." Elliot said and suddenly stopped. "Carla, what do we do?"

"Calm down. We don't know anything yet. Call him again."

Elliot whipped her phone back out and dialled JD's number as fast as possible. She put it to her ear and listened to it ring.

Please, please, please, please, please, please, please! 

"He's not answering." Elliot cried.

"Let's go find Dr Cox." Carla suggested. Her voice made her sound calm, but in reality, she was going to find Dr Cox in the hope that he would know what do, because she sure as hell didn't.

"Perry!" Carla said when they found him. He didn't stop moving, meaning they had to keep walking to keep up with him.

"Bad time, Carla. Somebody just told me there's been an accident on the freeway and we're the closest hospital. Car wreck or something." he said. Casting a look at them over his shoulder he saw their colour-drained faces and stopped in his tracks.

"What?" he asked.

**

* * *

**

**There's blood everywhere.**

**Oh my God, there's blood everywhere! Some of it's mine. I think I just heard my phone ringing, but it's too far away. It's probably Elliot calling me back, she'll send help. Elliot will send help.**

…

**Please send help.**

* * *

Almost the entire hospital staff was stood around the nurse's station, pretending to be working. No one was speaking. They were all waiting for Dr Cox to get off the phone and tell them something.News of the crash, and that JD might have been involved, had spread fast. 

"Okay, thank you." Dr Cox put the phone down and looked up to see all eyes on him.

"The ambulances are on their way here. They've got 4 patients for us. None are dead, but they're all in bad shape. The guy said there were two wrecked cars…and a scooter."

"Have they identified any of the people?" Carla asked, fearing the answer.

"The guy had to hang up and help his partner, but he said he'd call me back as soon as he could. The ambulances should be here in about 15 minutes."

All was silent again, until Laverne got up to go to the Hospital's chapel and pray. Turk followed not long after, but Carla decided it was best to stay with Elliot, who hadn't spoken a word in a long time.

He stood there and told me he loved me…and I ran away from him. I don't deserve him. 

I wanted to tell him I feel the same way, really I did. But last time it took me so long to get over him. I don't know if I want to chance putting myself through that again. I can't. It's best for the both of us if we just…stay friends. 

But that'll break my heart anyway! God, I'm so confused. I shouldn't even be thinking about that, it's not what's important right now. I just want to make sure he's okay, and I'll worry about this stuff later.

The sound of the phone ringing again made everyone still around the nurse's station jump. Cox picked it up instantly.

"This is Cox. Yeah. Listen, was there a John Dorian at the scene? He's in you're ambulance now?." The colour drained from his face this time, making everyone else nervous. "What wrong with the guy? Yes, the victim! Uh-huh. Okay, I'll be downstairs to meet you when you arrive. Bye."

"Perry?" Carla said after Cox was quiet for a while.

"One of the guys in the ambulance has severe head injuries, not to mention broken bones……It's newbie."

There was a collective gasp and a few sobs. Elliot felt her entire body go numb. Carla grabbed her hand and squeezed it tight; she barely felt it.

* * *

**I muttered something to the paramedic when they arrived about being a doctor but he ignored it, he told me to let him do his job. This is the first time I've been in an ambulance. It's cool, sort of. These guys look like professionals. I say 'look' because I can't be certain, I think I'm in shock.**

**I look down and see blood is still on my hands. It's not every day I have blood on my hands………well, actually, yeah it is. But it's not every day I have my own blood on my hands.**

**I wonder how the other victims are doing. On the freeway, I kind of felt like Death was riding on the back of my scooter. But, y'know something? If there was any doubt left in my mind that I didn't love Elliot, it's gone forever now. Surrounded by that car wreck, she was all I could think about; blowing the bangs out of her face and screaming 'Frick!'. I wish she was here with me. **

**The paramedic just said we're nearly at Sacred Heart.**

**That's a good sign, right?**

* * *

"Elliot, honey?" Carla said to her friend. "You still haven't said a word." 

Elliot looked up at Carla with a blank expression.

"I need to pee." she croaked out.

"Oh…you want me to go with you?" Carla asked. Elliot shook her head, got up and went to the bathroom slowly, almost robotically.. Carla sighed and watched her leave.

"Do you think JD will be okay?" Ted asked Dr Cox. Because it had been so quiet, his question drew everyone's attention.

"I don't know Ted." Dr Cox answered honestly.

"I hope so." Ted continued. "He was always nice to me. He'd tell jokes to try and cheer me up if he thought I looked depressed……which I always look. You've known him since college right?" he asked Turk, who nodded.

"I remember the first day I met him." said Turk. "He was such a dork. I mean, he's still a dork, but he used to be a really bigger one."

"Can we not talk like he's dead, please?" Cox said.

"Sorry." Turk apologised. He then looked at his watch and saw that it was the early hours of Christmas morning. "It's officially Christmas."

"O Joy!" Cox snapped sarcastically.

After that, it seemed people were afraid that Cox might scold them if they spoke.

"Hey," Carla finally said. "remember the time JD struck by the Hepatitis needle?"

"Oh, yeah!" Cox replied. "That was real bag of laughs."

"No, I mean when he found out he was medically fine. He…he started doing this stupid little dance and I…" she trailed off with laughter, and Turk, who was there at the time, laughed along.

It wasn't long before the everybody was swapping their stories about JD, even the Janitor shared some of his pranks that he had played on him. Dr Cox even laughed as he remembered some of them.

"I'll never forget the time in his second year when he came in a white coat." Cox said to the group. "He thought he'd seen everything…and he'd only just became a resident. He's an annoying little girl……but he sure is funny."

"Who is?" came a voice from behind the group. JD was standing there, gauze covering most of his left arm.

"Who's so funny?" JD repeated when no on answered.

**Why is everyone looking at me like I'm a ghost?**

"JD!" Carla finally yelled, jumping up from her seat and hugging him, followed by Turk. "You're okay!"

"Newbie, the guy said you had broken bones and severe head injuries!" Cox said.

"What?" JD asked in confusion. "Oh! No, I was sitting next to the paramedic when he was on the phone to you. You asked if there was a John Dorian at the accident site, and I was there. Then you asked what the victim's injuries were and he told you." He looked at the group and saw they still didn't understand. "I wasn't actually in the crash, I had to swerve my scooter to miss it, and I fell off." He gestured to his injured arm. "I rode here in the front seat of an ambulance; the driver's partner was in the back with the real victim."

As realization dawned on the group, they all seemed to sigh in relief. Some laughed at the misunderstanding, Carla cried, Dr Cox clasped a hand to JD's uninjured shoulder.

"I'm glad you're alright, Newbie."

"I heard noise, is there any news?" Elliot said as she came running round the corner. She froze when she caught sight of JD

"Hey." JD said. No reply came, she just stood there with wide eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked in concern. She didn't answer. The staff, persuaded by Carla, began to move away, giving them some privacy.

"I thought you were hurt?" she said, so quiet he barely heard her.

"No, Dr Cox just misunder--"

"Actually, it doesn't even matter." she interrupted, and suddenly began moving towards him, starting out with a walk that quickly grew into a run.

"What do you mea--umph!"

JD's question was cut off as Elliot grabbed his shirt with both hands and pulled so that his mouth came crashing down on hers. After the initial 2 seconds of shock wore off and he was certain he wasn't dreaming, he began to respond to the kiss, wrapping his arms around her waist . The result was the most passionate, earth-shattering, mind-blowing kiss either had ever had. And, though it had only been hours since their last one, they realised how much they had been itching to kiss each other again. The one in the supply closet had barely lasted 5 seconds, far too brief; this was the chance for their lips to get reacquainted, having gone over three years without any contact.

Eventually letting go of his shirt, she leaned her body into him and let her fingers fly upwards and tangle themselves in his hair. As he held her, JD couldn't help but think that Elliot seemed to fit against him perfectly, almost as though she was tailor-made for him. Soon, they both realised that they needed oxygen in order to breath, and so reluctantly pulled their mouths apart. He kept hold of her, though, slightly afraid she might run again if he let go.

"Wow." JD said, his voice coming out hoarse.

"Yeah." Elliot panted. "Wow."

"Elliot, does this mean…?"

"Only if you meant what you said earlier." she answered, trying to hide the slight hint of fear in her voice.

"I did." he quickly said. "Every word."

She let out the breath she'd been holding let her lips curve into a grin. "Then say it again."

"I love you." he said. Producing a grin of his own, he added, "…Smelliot."

"I love you, too. And I'm sorry it took thinking you were seriously injured to get me to say that."

"Well, when you're in love with Elliot Reid, craziness is something you kinda have to accept."

She laughed and then saw that his gaze had dropped again to her mouth.

"I smeared you lipstick." he whispered, his eyes locking back onto hers as he leaned in again.

"I'll live." she muttered, right before locking her lips onto his again. Neither could remember why they had ever kissed anyone else. Much to JD's displeasure, though, Elliot suddenly pulled her head back.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" she said. "What did you get me for Christmas?"

JD felt his eyes go wide. "Ohhhhhh, frick!"

Elliot grinned. "Totally kidding!" she said. "Now, c'mere, Dr Dorian." She brought his head back down and returned her lips to his, where they belonged.

**_THE END_**

* * *

I still don't know whether to write an epilogue or not, but I'll list this as completed for now. Regardless, a HUGE thank you to everyone who left reviews and put this story on alerts. Especially to those who reviewed regularly, you know who you are! And, most importanly, I hope you had a Merry Christmas and have an even better New Year!

**P.S.** Don't forget to let me know what you thought of this chapter too! Just thought I'd remind you of that before I go!


	12. My Epilogue

**Howdy!**

I know that I said at the beginning of the previous chapter that I wasn't really happy with the way it had turned out. However, I went back and re-read it only to find that I didn't just dislike it - I **hated** it. In my defence, it was Christmas time, and I rushed it slightly. But, hey! That's what epilogues are for, right?

Now, I'm sorry this has taken me so long but in the last few months I have been preparing for exams that will take place in the next couple of weeks. As a break from intense studying, I sat down and finished this. I've finally have a sense of closure with this story now, so I hope you enjoy it!

Without further ado:

* * *

_Four years later..._

He vaguely felt the torrential rain falling all over him, but he didn't really care. He had came out here on this exact day every year for four years, a little rain wasn't going to stop him. Carla had called and told him to wait until till later, so that she and Turk could be with him, maybe the rain will have stopped by then she had said. But this was something that he needed to do on his own.

As time went by, and he came to terms with it, he had reverted back to the, albeit significantly more toned down, happy-go-lucky guy he used to be. However, he still became as quiet and depressed on the anniversary, as he was on the night he first heard the news.

He walked to the top of the hill and pulled the rose from his pocket.

"Hey, Elliot." he said, placing the flower on her grave stone.

...

...

...

...

**_GOTCHA!!_**

Did you really think I would kill Elliot? Seriously? Come on! I'm afriad this epilogue is an angst-free-zone because, even though I didn't intially intend it to be, what follows is 100 pure fluff.

This is the real epilogue...no, seriously!

* * *

_Approximately a year later…_

The early morning light shined through the bedroom curtains, falling across Elliot's beautiful face as she slept peacefully. JD thanked whoever controlled the sun as he lay next to her in their bed, wide-awake, holding her against his body. For the past 15 minutes, JD had simply lay and gazed at her in adoration.

**If you would've told me a year and a half ago that I would be here, with her, I would never had believed you. I still can't believe it. Nothing could ruin this moment.**

Making sure it was real, JD closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. But suddenly, JD couldn't breathe; something was clogging his airway. He coughed and spluttered in an attempt to get it out, and in a few seconds it was. Unfortunately, his coughing had awoken the woman in his arms.

"Choke on my hair again, babe?" Elliot muttered sleepily, yawning afterwards.

"Every morning!" JD whined, pulling a stray strand of blond hair from his mouth.

"Just as well." she said, patting his stomach affectionately and glancing at her alarm clock. "We've gotta get up and go to work now anyway." Elliot made a move to get up but JD wouldn't release his grip on her.

"Uh-uh, you're not going anywhere." he said.

"JD, c'mon." She tried again to wriggle free but could not. "JD, knock it off." When it was clear she couldn't wriggle out of his grasp, she looked at him, fully prepared to give him her 'I'm being serious, now' face, but she found he was already staring at her intensely, or more accurately, staring at her lips intensely.

"We're gonna be late." she muttered in a last pathetic protest; but when shefelt _herself_ leaning in to _him_, she wondered why exactly she was protesting.

Instead of answering, he closed the short distance between them and brought his lips to hers. After over a year together, it amazed Elliot that she would still melt into him when they kissed. It wasn't long before the kiss deepened, and hands began to roam.

**Okay, nothing could ruin _this_ moment!**

Just as JD flipped Elliot over so that he was on top of her, the phone rang.

**Damn it!**

They both sighed in frustration. JD removed his hands from their not-so-innocent positions on her and reached for the phone.

"Hello? Hey, Carla. Listen could call back in a minute or 40, I'm kind of busy at the mome….yes, we know we're late…can you just…OK! Fine, we're getting up."

JD slammed the phone down in frustration and turned back to Elliot, only to be caught off guard by a quick kiss. She pulled away, shot him a quick smile and jumped up to get ready.

JD felt his 'Elliot smile' creep onto his face as he thought about the two of them.

**I can't believe I could have been living like this for the last seven years. But actually, everything we went through seems like it prepared us for a real, adult relationship. And now things are perfect. Although, we did get off to a rocky start. Our first date - well, it was actually like our eighth date if you count our old relationships, but anyway - started a little weird.**

_JD checked his appearance one last time in the mirror of a car parked on the sidewalk. Satisfied, he walked the last few steps to Elliot's door feeling as though he was about to be sick._

_**Why am I so nervous? I've been on a million dates with Elliot. No, this is different. I'm serious about us this time. No more fear, no more sabotaging, I'll make this work if it's the last thing I do. The important thing to do here, is not panic. It's just Elliot…**_

_**Ohmygod, ohmygod. I'm on a date with Elliot! I'm on a date with Elliot!**_

_His hand shaking, JD knocked on her door. He quickly tried to compose himself; seeing him this nervous might give her the wrong idea. So, he desperately tried to calm the butterflies in his stomach. There was no need, because when she opened the door and he saw her, he forgot all about the butterflies. Even after all this time, he was still amazed by her beauty._

"_Hey." she said. He noticed that she seemed a little nervous too, judging by the slightly shy tone in her voice._

"_Hi." he managed to croak out, still trying to regain his composure. "Um, ready to go?"_

"_Yeah." she answered, shutting her front door behind her and setting off down the road._

_JD had borrowed the Turk's car for the evening. He made a move to open the door for her, unaware that she had made the same move at the same time. Their hands touched briefly, but they both quickly pulled them back. _

_They both laughed nervously and JD finally opened the door for her. She mumbled a thank you as she got in. _

_That was as good as the conversation got. Apart from JD asking her if she was warm enough and her reply that she was fine, the ride to the restaurant was filled with silence so awkward JD felt as though he was being crushed under the weight of it._

_**What's wrong with us? We made out in the middle of the hospital just over a week ago but now we're all awkward because our hands touched?**_

_When they arrived and were seated, it was more of the same. They busied themselves looking at their menus. When the waiter came, they ordered. Then, more silence._

_**Oh god, this is killing me. Say something! Anything!**_

"_Hey, would you rather find out was you're biological father? Dr Cox or Dr Kelso?"_

_Elliot's eye's snapped up from her menu in shock._

"_Um, what I meant by that was--"_

_Luckily he was saved by the arrival of their meals and, after thanking the waiter, silence decided to grace them with its presence once more. JD didn't dare try and make small talk again, afraid of what he might blurt out. Elliot didn't seem to feel like talking either. When their meals were finished he asked her if she wanted desert, and she declined._

_The entire night having been a complete awkward disaster, the only thing left to do was take her home._

_He paid for their meal and they left, still in heartbreaking silence._

_They both looked anywhere but at the other as they walked to the car, but JD stole a glace at Elliot. She was thinking exactly what he was thinking:_

_**This was a mistake. Maybe, as much as we want to, as hard as we try, we just have to accept the fact that we don't work as a couple.**_

_They were on the opposite side of the street to the car now. Unfortunately, JD was so focused on Elliot that he didn't even realise he was crossing the street. Stepping off the curb caught him completely by surprise, he lost his balance and fell to the floor. _

_People on the other side of the street shook their heads at the idiot. JD sat up and took a second to figure out why he was suddenly on the dirty floor. His eyes travelled up to meet Elliot's. She too looked surprised, but then the corners of her mouth started to twitch upwards. A second later, they both burst out laughing. _

_JD's expression as he was suddenly falling was one of surprise/fear, and just replaying it in her mind made it even more hilarious to Elliot. JD tried to get to his feet but he was laughing so hard that he stumbled and nearly fell over again, causing Elliot to laugh even harder. _

_Tears in her eyes, she made her way over to a nearby bench so she wouldn't fall over with laughter and JD sat next to her. They stayed like that for a full five minutes, tears in their eyes, passers by assumed they had drank a little too much tonight. _

_When the laughter turned to chuckling and then died down completely, there was more silence. This time, however, it wasn't awkward. It was one in which they both reviewed the night's events._

"_Aside from me falling on my ass, this night pretty much sucked, huh?" he said eventually. She shot him a sad smile and nodded. "I just don't understand. I mean, we weren't like this the other times we were dating, and we haven't been like this the last 3 years. Why is it so awkward all of a sudden?"_

"_I don't know." she replied. "I mean, today I was really excited. I came home from work and started getting ready. And then, while I was waiting for you to pick me up, I just started panicking. I kept thinking 'Ohmygod, I'm going on a date with JD! I'm going on a date with JD!'"_

"_No way! I was thinking the exact same thing. Well, except with 'JD' replaced with 'Elliot'. I wasn't going on a date with myself. Although if I was…"_

_Elliot saw his eyes drift up to the side and knew he was about to go into his fantasy world._

"_JD!" she said firmly, and grabbed his hand._

"_Sorry." he said. Snapping back to reality. He soon noticed that Elliot was still holding his hand. They both looked down at the sight, before looking back up at each other._

"_How about," JD said with a smile. "we just forget were on a date and just…hang out."_

"_I'd like that." she said with a smile of his own._

_Two hour passed, filled mostly with making fun of weird or drunk people that walked past their bench and prank calling Turk and Carla from a payphone, before JD found himself back on Elliot's doorstep at the end of the night._

_Elliot sighed, and leaned against her door as she and JD looked at each other, with silly little smirks on their faces._

"_Well, despite a sucky start, I had fun a lot of fun tonight." she told him._

"_Me too."_

_The second comfortable silence of the night followed, before JD leaned in kissed her. It wasn't the full-blown, passionate make-out session they'd shared a week before. It was slow and sweet, and it told her that despite all the crap they'd been through (including the date's beginning) he was still serious about making them work this time._

_He finally pulled back for air, but rested his forehead against hers._

"_Well," she sighed. "Goodnight."_

"_Goodnight." he said, planting one final kiss on the end of her nose before taking a step back. Their eyes remained locked until the door to Elliot's house closed._The doors to Sacred Heart Opened as JD and Elliot walked through them, hand in hand.

* * *

"All I'm saying is that most guys wouldn't call their girlfriends insulting nicknames." Elliot was saying.

"Elliot, I have been called everything from crap face to Pee-Pee LeFritz. Trust me, 'Smelliot' is a kick ass nickname."

"Okay, I didn't want it to come to this but if you don't stop, I will attack your crotch every time you say 'Smelliot'." Elliot stopped and looked at JD with her best angry expression.

JD, however, didn't seem intimidated. In fact, he broke out into a grin.

"'_Attack my crotch'? _That sounds awesome!"

"Wait, that's not how I meant it. I meant that I'll kick you there!"

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to take your first remark."

"JD!" Elliot whined, hitting him in the shoulder. As JD was about to continue their playful banter, they were interrupted.

"Well, if it isn't the soon-to-be Mr and Mrs Newbie." Dr Cox said, walking towards the two. JD noticed that Cox had looked at him when he said 'Mrs Newbie'.

**Same old Cox.**

"Tell me," Cox went on. "how come no one told _me_ when _I_ was engaged that it means I can just show up for work whenever I want, regardless of what time my shift starts?"

JD and Elliot just stared blankly at him, unsure of the answer he wanted.

"I assume that's a rule isn't it?" Cox continued. "Because why else would you be _fifteen minutes late for work_?" His mock-grin disappeared, replaced with a heated glare directed at the two younger doctors.

Seven years had taught them that answering that question would be a very bad idea, so instead they just stared at floor. After a few seconds of wondering if he would kill them or not, Cox motioned to JD with his finger.

"Come! We have work to do." he growled, before turning and stalking down the hallway. Not wanting to anger the beast any further, JD made an immediate move to follow, until he heard a not-so-subtle cough from behind him. Elliot was looking at him in a way that said _'aren't you forgetting something?'_

"Oh!" he said. Quickly, he moved back over to her and planted a kiss on her lips. "See you at lunch?". She nodded with that smile of hers that drove him wild.

"NEWBIE!" came Cox's roar, making JD, Elliot and everyone in the general vicinity jump in fright.

JD was soon at his mentor's side as they walked through the halls at a unusually fast pace.

"Why are you so uptight today?" JD asked. Then, thinking it over, he corrected himself. "Okay, more uptight that usual?"

"Oh, I don't know." Cox answered. "Maybe its because I've had 4 coffees in the last hour, maybe its because you showed no remorse for the fact that you were late _or _maybe its because Jack has entered a strange phase in which he will _not_ stop asking question, after question, after question, after question, after question, after question, after question, after question, after question, after question."

"Actually," JD said, stopping himself and Dr Cox so he could put his arm on his mentor's shoulder. "I think I know the reason."

Dr Cox responded to his sympathetic smile with a confused frown.

"Elliot and I are getting married in a few months." JD continued, giving Cox's shoulder an affectionate squeeze. "And I know you think that means our time together is gonna take a hit. And, while I can't deny that, I want you to know that, even with a wife, I will _always _make time for you."

JD, who was expecting Dr Cox to shy away from his sensitivity, was surprised to see Cox looking as though he was holding back tears. JD gave his mentor's shoulder another affectionate squeeze as he too felt himself becoming emotional. Slowly, though, Dr Cox raised his fist to the level of JD's face and held it there. Dr Cox now seemed to be gazing at it curiously and JD did the same for a few seconds, looking at the weird gesture Cox was making with his fingers.

**What the hell is that? I know I've seen it before; index finger touching thumb, three other fingers in the air. Oh! It's the 'A-OK!' sign. That's what it is. Either that or the shape a person's hand is before they fli--**

His thoughts cut short as Cox suddenly flicked JD. Hard. Right between the eyes.

"OW!"

"_**OR**__,_" Cox said, his voice dripping with unbearable annoyance. "maybe I'm uptight because we're short staffed today, and the only doctors I have on hand are IDIOTS like you!"

With a groan of utter frustration, Cox turned and walked away leaving JD rubbing his forehead in pain.

"Having a good day." A voice said directly behind JD, making him jump again. He spun round to see the Janitor painting the wall, an evil grin on his face after clearly witnessing what just happened.

"Not particularly, no." JD answered.

"Aw, that's too bad. Mr Hot-Shot-Rich-Doctor had a few mishaps and thinks he's got it bad. While me, a lowly janitor, works his fingers to the bone all day just to try and pay the rent on a small, one room apartment." Janitor snapped.

JD instantly felt sorry, until he remembered something. "Wait a second, I went to you're house last year! It's huge, and you nearly knocked me out with your door."

"…oh, yeah. Forgot about that. That was fun. " Janitor said, reminiscing. "Well, I hope you're day gets better, buddy." He said, patting JD on the shoulder and walking away. JD looked only to see a giant, hand shaped paint stain there.

* * *

Not long into her shift, Elliot had to take a break. When she had got out of bed and gone into the bathroom earlier that morning, she had suddenly felt terrible and had almost been sick. She thought it would be best to sit down in the doctor's lounge for a few minutes. As she entered, she saw Todd lying on the couch watching TV.

"Hey, Todd."

"Hey, Elliot. Look, I saved you a seat!" Todd said, and gestured to his crotch.

"Aww, thanks Todd!" Elliot replied with mock gratitude, before sitting down on Todd's crotch with as much force of possible.

"ARRRGGH!" Todd screamed out.

"One of these days, you'll learn Todd." Elliot patted Todd on the head and got up to sit on the other couch.

"Don't you know it's just my way of paying you a compliment." Todd managed to croak out.

"Well you should try some different methods."

"How about, you're boobs look especially big today?"

"Swing and a miss."

Although, she thought, looking down to her breasts. The girls do seem a little heavier than usual.

Still, Todd's constant use of innuendos, had brought a memory from a few months ago to the front of her mind.

It was our third or fourth date since JD and I had gotten back together and, well, let's just say it was going well. 

_Elliot felt her back slam against the door as she tangled his hair with the fingers of one hand, rummaging in her purse for her keys with the other. Once she located them, she had to tear her lips away from his to speak._

"_J-JD, you have to let me open the door for us to go inside." she said breathlessly._

"_O-okay." he replied in the same way, letting go of her so she could turn and open the door. The second he heard her turn the keys and start to open the door, he spun her around and locked lips with her again, pushing the door open himself and leading them inside._

_Elliot vaguely heard him kick the door shut behind him, but she wasn't sure as his intense kisses were creating a haze that clouded her mind. How they made it up the stairs with their lips and hands all over each other, she didn't know, but suddenly they were crashing onto her bed._

_She started to unbutton his shirt and he slipped of her jacket as they both kicked off their own shoes. Unfortunately, JD abruptly stopped everything he was doing and pulled back to look at her._

"_Wait," he said with swollen lips. "we…we said we were going to take this slow. Are you sure this isn't too soon?"_

_She honestly didn't know what to say. On the one hand, she saw what he meant; every time they had gotten together in the past, they seemed to skip the first few stages of relationships and jump right forward to sex. If they wanted to make this work, maybe they should take it a lot slower than previous times. On the other hand, she **really** wanted to go back to what they were doing a minute ago._

"_I just don't wanna screw this up like the other times by moving too fast." he said _

"_Yeah, you're right." she reluctantly admitted with a sigh._

_JD moved from his previous position of pinning her down on her own bed to sitting on the edge of it so he could talk to her._

"_Don't get me wrong, Elliot, I **really** want to but I think it would be best if we just wait a little while longer."_

_He's putting sex to the side to try protect our future? God, I love him._

"_Okay. We'll wait. But for now," Elliot moved across the bed and leaned in to kiss him. "this is for you."_

* * *

"These are for you, Bambi!" Carla said as she handed him about ten charts. After changing into a new shirt, JD had arrived at the nurse's station.

"Thanks. Hey, where's Turk?"

"Ugh," Carla said, rolling her eyes. "He took the day off, claiming he was finally gonna teach Izzie to walk."

_At their apartment, Turk is kneeling on floor with Isabella on the other side of the room. Turk is holding up a pink bunny in one hand._

"_Okay." Turk says. "You're now officially one year old, and you still can't walk. But that don't matter, baby. Some kids just need some inspiration." He indicated the pink bunny in his hand "You love this bunny, this is your favourite toy. Don't you wanna walk across the room and get it? Come and get it, Izzie!"_

_Izzie looks slightly interested, but her attention soon switches to something on the kitchen counter. It was Carla's vase, the one that Turk had freaked out over when she had bought it for so much money. But she loved it and just had to, she had told him. Izzie had always seemed to be fascinated by its bright colours, and Carla had been saying recently about putting it somewhere safer, where Izzie certainly wouldn't get to it._

"_Surely if I just hold it and get Isabella to walk, nothing will happen…right?" Turk thought to himself._

JD began to walk away but stopped and looked down at all the charts in his hand. "Wait, are all these for me?"

"Yeah, we're short staffed today."

"Oh, right…why is that?"

Carla smirked.

"You're not gonna believe this." she said. But before she could say anything else, Dr Cox joined them and asked Carla for a particular patient's personal information, leading to a discussion between them concerning the patient. Figuring that Carla would tell him later, he went back to work.

Meanwhile, Elliot was not having the best of days. In addition to having a significantly increased workload than usual, she still wasn't feeling too good. Even though the feeling that she was about to vomit had passed since this morning, a painful headache had reared it's head. She initially had thought that she might have been dehydrated, so she had drank a bottle of water which must have been bigger than she thought, because here she was in the bathroom, peeing for the third time in the last hour and a half.

God, she thought as she experienced a long yawn. I'm so tired I feel like I'm gonna drop. Probably cause I was up late with JD last night…and the night before. Turns out being engaged is a huge turn-on. 

_A few months ago…_

_Elliot couldn't stop the snort of laughter. "I can't believe you just said that." she said._

"_I don't know what it is, it's like the blue skin just makes Mystique more of a turn-on."_

_It was a Friday night and JD and Elliot were at home watching 'X-men'. JD sat on the couch with his arm around Elliot, who was resting her head on his shoulder._

"_So what, out of her, Storm and Jean Grey, you'd rather do--"_

"_Mystique? Hell yeah!"_

_Elliot started to laugh again, then playfully asked. "What about out of **me** and Mystique."_

"_You, of course." he said, planting a kiss on her head. "Mystique's hot and all, but nowhere near as hot as you, Smelliot."_

"_Really?" she asked in mock-insecurity._

"_Oh, yeah. All those years we weren't dating, no one ever compared to you."_

_Elliot didn't say anything for a second. The playful tone of the conversation wasn't in his voice when he had said that; it was like making sure she knew._

"_Same here." She said, wanting him to know._

"_Seriously?" he asked this time._

"_Yeah." she admitted. "Of all the guys I dated after you; Sean, Paul, Jake, even with Keith who I had all those crazy role plays with, they were all good in bed but…we never had the same connection as I had with you…it was never the same."_

_Neither said much after that, both just pretending to watch the movie while they were really thinking about what the other had said. JD suddenly became aware that Elliot's hand, that was previously simply resting on his knee, had now began caress it slightly. Elliot didn't even realise she was doing it, too wrapped up in her thoughts, until she felt JD start to do the same with her hair, slowly running his fingers through it. She turned he head to look at him, and he stared back. Before she knew it, he was leaning in to kiss her. Like most of their kisses, it began slowly before steadily becoming more passionate, and Elliot brought her knees up onto the couch so that she could gain more access to JD. She held his face in her hands and pushed him slightly into the arm of the couch, but then he took control and had her lying down on her back as he kissed her. However, just like that night a few months ago, JD pulled back again._

"_Do..do you think this is right?"_

"_Yeah." she whispered with a smile. "I think we've waited long enough." And she brought his lips back down to hers. _

_After a few more minutes of kissing, they stood up and Elliot led him by his hand to the bedroom._

Elliot smiled at the sudden memory.

It's weird how we waiting so long and then it just came out of nowhere. But still, it was perfect.

Her business finished, she pulled up her scrubs and began walking back to work, before she felt her stomach grumble.

Looks like its time for lunch. I hope they have chocolate cake today, I'm really in the mood for it. Actually I could _kill_ for some chocolate cake right now.

* * *

The quality of lunch was not very good at Sacred Heart, as Kelso made sure the least amount of money possible was used to buy food. This was why JD stood in the lunch line deciding which of the meals on offer was less likely to make him vomit. As he was making this difficult choice, he felt someone pinch his butt.

"Hey, sexy." Elliot said, kissing him on them cheek.

"Oh, thank god that was you." JD replied, turning to her. "I thought I was gonna have to file a sexual harassment lawsuit again!" Elliot chuckled at his joke, but then realised he wasn't smiling.

"My high school principal was a bad man until I had him arrested." he said quietly, receiving a weird look from Elliot. "But, hey! That's a repressed memory for another day, right?"

"Totally have to remember to talk through that one later." Elliot said. "Hey, do they have any chocolate cake today?"

"Um, no, it doesn't look like it."

"Frick" Elliot said in frustration.

JD finally chose his food and turned to his fiancé who appeared to be just waiting for him. "You're not getting anything?"

"Nah. If I can't have chocolate cake I really don't feel like anything else." she answered as JD put his arm around her and they walked to an empty table, sitting down next to one another.

"So have you noticed that there are like no interns around today?" she asked.

"Yeah, Carla was saying something about that. Cox is acting like he's pissed about it, but _I_ know he's _really_ angry about how much time we're gonna lose once you become Mrs Elliot Dorian."

Elliot could stop the gigantic smile that found its way onto her face when he said that. "I'm so happy that's going to be my name soon. I've always hated 'Reid'. And 'Elliot' too. Maybe I'll change my first name."

"No you won't." JD said sternly as he attacked his fries.

"Why?" Elliot asked, confused by his serious tone.

"Because 'Elliot' is an awesome name."

"JD, 'Elliot' is a guy's name. I'm probably the only woman on the planet called 'Elliot'."

"Exactly. It's unique, one of a kind. Just like you. That's why I love it."

Elliot stopped, not knowing how strongly he felt about her name. She was so touched that she turned his face to hers and kissed him. Much like at Christmas last year, JD was momentarily caught off guard, but soon returned the kiss. But, like earlier that morning, it started to get out of hand and for a minute they forgot where they were; tongues came into play, Elliot tangled her fingers in his hair like she always did and, just as JD's hands grasped her hips, a napkin that had been rolled up like a ball hit him in the face.

Pulling apart and looking around, they saw the entire cafeteria looking at them, and Dr Cox sitting at the table in front of them, another napkin-ball ready.

"For the love of _God_, Newbies! People are trying to eat!"

"See? Totally jealous of you." JD hissed to Elliot. "And Turk too, he made up some excuse about Izzie to stay off and sulk today."

"I'm sure that's the reason, babe." Elliot said, patting his hand as everyone else went back to their food."

"Crap." JD muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing, I just meant to look over this chart during lunch, but I have to get back to work in like a minute and I still haven't figured out what's wrong with her."

"I could help." Elliot offered.

"Okay." JD nodded and opened the chart. "Let's see, she's complaining of headaches, a weaker bladder, food cravings, fatigue…"

"Those sound like pregnancy symptoms." Elliot said simply, while eating a few fries from his plate.

"Oh, yeah." JD said, feeling slightly stupid. "Okay, in my defence, it would have been more obvious if she'd given me the common ones, like morning sickness or even bigger boobs. Anyways, I gotta go. Love you."

"Love you too." she said as he got up and placed a kiss on her head.

She began to finish the fries he'd left behind, but stopped as her fiancé's words echoed through her mind.

"_she's complaining of headaches, a weaker bladder, food cravings, fatigue…"_

"_the common ones, like morning sickness or even bigger boobs."_

Elliot froze and dropped the fry she was holding.

HOLY FRICK!

* * *

It had been a busy day for JD, but it was finally coming to an end. He stopped by the nurse's station to see Carla, only to find that she was equally busy.

"What is it, Bambi?"

"Nothing. It's just been a long day." He said, leaning on the desk.

"Yeah, I know how you feel." she replied as she was sorting through the various papers and charts in front of her.

"Why are we so short staffed today?"

Carla suddenly stopped and looked up at him.

"I didn't tell you?"

He shook his head and the same knowing smirk as before appeared on her face.

* * *

_He couldn't believe he actually had a smirk on his face. He should be petrified. After all, here he was: a self-confessed commit-a-phoebe hiding in the supply closet during his break so he could privately look at the engagement ring he was planning to give to his girlfriend of six months. And to tell the truth, he was petrified…but in a good way. In an excited way. He had always criticised Turk for proposing to Carla out of the blue; he was planning to do things a little differently. _

_**I'm thinking of a huge event, that Elliot will never see coming. Something crazy, and extravagant…like organising a scavenger hunt for her, with things that mean a lot to her as clues, then maybe lead her back to the hospital where all of her friends are gathered as I propose? I'm gonna plan every aspect of this out carefully, who'll be there, what I'll be wearing, how I'll ask her.**_

_At this thought, JD started trying different types of proposals out loud. He closed his eyes and tried to visualise himself proposing in different ways._

"_Elliot, will you marry me? Will you marry me, Elliot Reid?…Smelliot, will you be my wife?"_

_**She really would kill me if I said it like that. Try something different, original**_

"_Hey, Elliot, wanna get hitched?"_

_**Nah, probably best to just stick to the classic.**_

_He said it out loud once more._

"_Elliot, will you marry me?"_

"_WHAT?!"_

_His eyes flew open to see Elliot standing in the open doorway of the supply closet looking speechless. He must have been so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't even hear the door opening. Unfortunately, Elliot had clearly heard his practice proposal. _

_**So much for a crazy, extravagant proposal that she'll never see coming.**_

"_Your…your proposing?" Elliot asked again, fully entering the closet, still shell-shocked._

"_I was thinkin' about it" he answered meekly._

"_Like…marriage?"_

"_No, Elliot, a toast." he deadpanned._

"_But…but…"_

_Even if JD wasn't going to get to plan an elaborate proposal, he had still caught Elliot completely off guard. When she had gotten back together with JD, she was well aware of his fear of commitment. For that reason, they had taken things super-slow and had never even discussed marriage or kids or anything of that nature. They said each 'I Love You' to each other, but that was it. She never brought any of that stuff up because she was afraid of losing him, of scaring him away. Yet, here he was practicing asking her to marry him, along with an engagement ring._

…_a **beautiful** engagement ring! Wow! Wait, focus, Elliot!_

"_But you're a commit-a-phoebe! You…you should be terrified of marriage!"_

"_I am." he answered, taking hold of her hand. "But it's a good kind of terrified. Elliot we've been on and off so many times, I just wanna prove to you that I'm serious this time, that I want to spend the rest of my life with you."_

"_Are you sure?"_

"_Positive. Granted, if given the choice I probably wouldn't have proposed in a supply closet but…" _

_They laughed, and JD decided to go for it._

"_So, what do you say? Will you marry me, Elliot?"_

_She looked at him with that beautiful smile, and JD saw the light from the low ceiling of the supply closet reflected in her now watery eyes._

_As the first tear of joy rolled down her cheek, she couldn't suppress the giggle that escaped her. "Of course I will!" she said, bouncing up and down slightly._

_He didn't think his smile could grow any further but it did as he put the ring onto her finger and brought her in for a long kiss. _

As soon as Carla seemed to be getting on top of everything, more work was dropped in her lap. She took a deep breath and got on with her work, JD having ran off as soon as she had told him. At least now she could work in peace.

"Carla, I need to talk to you."

Or maybe not.

"Super busy here, Elliot" Carla said without looking up.

"I know, but it's really important."

"Well then make it quick." she said as she tried to sort the hundreds of files in front of her into some kind of order.

"It's not that simple."

"Well then I don't have time, either say it quick or wait till later." Carla snapped, starting to get frustrated.

"Fair enough." Elliot said. "I think I'm pregnant."

Carla dropped everything in her hands and span round to face Elliot.

"But if you're too busy I'll just see you later." Elliot remarked and made a move to walk away.

"Don't you dare take another step!" Carla yelled.

* * *

An intern was embracing the shrink as JD came round the corner, clearly just finishing an emotional session. JD couldn't believe Carla had gone the whole day without telling him he was back. This was the man responsible for the way his life was today.

"Doctor…" JD called out, only to find he couldn't remember the shrink's name.

**Well, that's nice. This man changed your life and you don't even remember his name?**

The psychologist turned around and smiled when he saw JD; he was expecting to see the young doctor today. Seeing JD's predicament, he helped him out.

"O'Brian." he finished for him.

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about, it's been over a year."

"Talking to the new interns?"

"Yeah, we're gonna do the sort of the same experiment as with you, and then compare the different results."

"Cool."

"So how have you been, Dr Dorian?" Dr O'Brian asked as they walked down the hall.

"Great, thanks to you." The shrink chuckled slightly. "No, seriously. I've never been happier. I'm getting married in 3 months to the girl I've been in love with for the past 7 years. And I never would have had the balls to take a chance with Elliot, or even marry her, if you hadn't opened my eyes."

"I didn't change you're life for you, JD. I just pointed you in the right direction."

"Even so," JD said, stopping and outstretching his hand to Dr O'Brian. "Thank you."

The doctor nodded and shook JD's hand.

* * *

Later, as JD made his way to the hospital exit, he put Dr O'Brian's card in his pocket. The psychologist had told him to call him if ever needed to, and JD would have thanked him again but he didn't get a chance.

"_I mean it, JD. If you're ever need to talk, don't hesitate to call." Dr O'Brian says._

_JD starts to thank him but trails off when he sees the doctor looking over JD's shoulder, his eyes filling up with fear. JD whips his head around to see Dr Cox standing behind him with an awkward smile on his face._

"_Look, I just wanted to say that I'm sor--" Cox starts to say, but the shrink suddenly turns and sprints down the hall. Cox follows screaming. "HEY! I'm trying to apologise you, you stupid fake doctor!"_

JD laughed as he approached Elliot and Carla at the hospital's reception. They both had huge smiles on their faces

"When are you gonna tell him?" Carla was saying.

"Tell me what?" JD asks, and both women jumped in fright when they saw him standing next to them.

"Nothing." Elliot quickly shrieks, telling JD that it clearly wasn't 'nothing', but he would ask later.

"Oookay, ready to go?"

"Um, yeah." Elliot answers, pulling on her jacket that JD had gotten for her and starting to calm down.

"Well then let's go, Smelliot."

"I told you," she says playfully punching him in the arm. "to stop calling me that."

"Don't worry Elliot, in a few months your name will be Elliot Dorian." Carla says. "We'll all call you _'E.D.'_"

Elliot hoped Carla hadn't just done what Elliot thought she had done. But when she turned to JD to see the huge smile on his face, all hope was lost.

Suddenly the phone on the desk rang, and Carla picked up; saving herself from being killed by Elliot.

"Hey, baby." she says to her husband on the other line. "Izzie walked? Turk, that's fantastic! I can't believe you…SHE BROKE WHAT?! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT VASE COST?!"

Feeling an argument brewing between the Turks, Elliot and JD mumbled a goodbye and walked towards the doors. Turk's call had given Elliot the slightest bit of hope that JD might have forgotten what Carla had said, but when she looked at him he was wearing the same grin

"No." she says simply.

"Oh, I'm afraid so, _ED_!"

"No. Stop it."

"You're too late, it's already burned into my brain."

"Argh!" she exclaims, rolling her eyes and grabbing his hand as they exit the hospital. "We're gonna have to have a long talk about this when we get home…and other stuff, too."

"What kind of other stuff?" JD asks, only to see another weird smirk appear on Elliot's face.

"Well…I'll tell you when we get home."

**_THE (REAL) END_**

* * *

Well, that's it. It's finally over! Looking over the whole story, the only thing I'd change (apart from the last chapter) would be the amount of Turk in the story. I didn't think there was nearly enough with such a funny character like Turk, but there just wasn't a whole lot for him to do.

A HUGE thankyou to everyone who read/reviewed this story, remember to let me know your thoughts on this. Once my exams are over, I've got a few ideas for some new stories, so look out for them.

P.S. The "Ohmygod, I'm on a date with (blank), I'm on a date with (blank)!" line was 'borrowed' from a story I read ages ago, I think it may have been a Smallville story (Clois rocks!) but for the life of me I can't remember what it was called. Anyway, just wanted you to know that the line wasn't orgininaly mine!


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